Pakistan and China expressed satisfaction over the progress of their bilateral relationship on Thursday and agreed to continue working together on the next phase of the upgraded China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC 2.0), which includes five new corridors.
The commitment was made during a meeting between Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing. Prime Minister Shehbaz extended his gratitude to China for its unwavering support for Pakistan’s sovereignty and socio-economic development.
The leaders reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen the strategic cooperative partnership between Pakistan and China, building on the consensus reached during a previous meeting between President Xi Jinping and the Prime Minister. The signing of the Joint Action Plan for 2024-2029 was acknowledged as an important step towards further deepening ties.
The Prime Minister also congratulated China on successfully hosting the SCO Summit in Tianjin and the 80th anniversary of the success of the Chinese people in the War of Resistance and Anti-Fascist War.
Prime Minister Shehbaz highlighted the significant contribution of CPEC, a flagship project of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in Pakistan’s socio-economic development over the past decade. He emphasized the need for the early implementation of key projects such as ML-I, the KKH realignment, and the operationalization of Gwadar Port.
The two leaders discussed further cooperation in areas like agriculture, mines and minerals, textiles, industrial sectors, and IT, which were identified as priority areas for mutual economic benefit.
Prime Minister Shehbaz also reiterated Pakistan’s support for President Xi Jinping’s global initiatives and emphasized the potential for business-to-business (B2B) cooperation, noting the successful B2B Investment Conference held earlier, with over 300 Pakistani and 500 Chinese companies in attendance.
The leaders attended a ceremony for exchanging Memorandums of Understanding and agreements, which focused on the development of CPEC 2.0, as well as cooperation in science and technology, media, agriculture, and more.
Later, Chinese Minister of Industry & Information Technology Li Lecheng met with Prime Minister Shehbaz, reaffirming China’s commitment to elevate bilateral cooperation and collaboration. The prime minister emphasized CPEC as the central pillar of Pakistan’s development, expressing satisfaction with the progress made in Phase-II of the project.
