Pakistan joins China’s ‘ambitious’ moon programme

BEIJING: Pakistan has joined China’s expanding club of partners in an ambitious project to build a research station on the moon’s south pole.

Caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar and his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang witnessed the signing of an initial cooperation agreement on the moon project in Beijing.

In a statement, the China National Space Administration said that cooperation would cover areas including the engineering and operational aspects of the Chinese lunar base project.

China, which aims to become a major space power by 2030, has already secured cooperation from Russia, Venezuela and South Africa. It has fixed a target to land its astronauts on the moon by the end of this decade.

The timeline to build an outpost on the south pole coincides with NASA’s more ambitious Artemis programme, which aims to put U.S. astronauts back on the lunar surface in December 2025, barring delays.

PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar returned home on Friday evening after a five-day China trip, which reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to timely completion of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects besides profusely advocating the need for collective efforts for regional connectivity and shared prosperity.

The visit coincided with another milestone in the bilateral ties as the two countries are celebrating the 10th anniversary of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

During the visit, the two sides signed 20 agreements and MoUs, covering cooperation on the BRI, infrastructure, mining, industry, green and low-carbon development, health, space cooperation, digital , development cooperation and export of agricultural products to China.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the mining industry, including in the fields of geological survey, joint research on geology and minerals, training of talent, and planning of mining industrial parks, IT, industrialization and agriculture sectors as well.