PM Shehbaz Sharif to visit China June 4-8: FO

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit China from June 4 to 8 at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said on Friday.

During the three-segment trip, the prime minister will visit the cities of Xi’an and Shenzhen, besides Beijing, the Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch announced at her weekly press briefing.

She said that Shehbaz Sharif would meet President Xi Jinping and hold delegation-level talks with Premier Li Qiang in Beijing.

He will also hold meetings with Chairman of Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji and heads of key government departments.

The spokesperson said that an important aspect of the prime minister’s visit will be meetings with corporate executives of leading Chinese companies dealing in oil and gas, energy, ICT, and emerging technologies.

In Shenzhen, Prime Minister Shehbaz will address the China-Pakistan Business Forum with leading businesspersons, entrepreneurs, and investors from both countries.

He will also visit Economic and Agricultural Zones in China, she added. The prime minister’s visit to China manifests the iron-clad Pakistan-China friendship characterized by frequent high-level exchanges and dialogue.

The two sides will undertake discussions to further strengthen the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership; upgrade China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; advance trade and investment; enhance cooperation in security and defence, energy, space, science & technology, and education; and promote cultural cooperation and people-to-people contacts, thus setting the future trajectory of Pakistan-China friendship.

China awaits Shehbaz Sharif’s upcoming visit

The Chinese foreign ministry on Friday said China looks forward to the visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, taking it as an “opportunity to promote greater joint development”.

Spokesperson Mao Ning at her regular briefing said the official visit would boost the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership and build a closer community of destiny in the new era.

Mao Ning pointed out that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic partners and “iron-clad” friends. China-Pakistan friendship has been tested by the winds and clouds of the times, and is as solid as a rock and as stable as Mount Taishan, she added.