Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is due to meet the Chinese Premier Li Qiang today, with the pair set to discuss “bilateral ties, regional and international cooperation,“ the Press Information Department (PID) said on Thursday.
The second Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference is going to be held in Beijing on Sept 4 (today), with a focus on exploring new avenues for strengthening trade and investment relations between Pakistan and China.
PM Shehbaz, who is currently on a six-day visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, will meet the Chinese Premier today, followed by a meeting with Chinese Minister for Information Technology and Industry Li Lecheng, the PID statement said.
“PM Shehbaz is also expected to preside over a business meeting, which is the second edition of the Pakistan-China Business-to-Business Investment Conference”, it added.
The business “conference will review the outcomes of the first edition, chaired by Shehbaz Sharif in Shenzhen in June 2024, and outline future plans.”
Last year in June, PM Shehbaz had inaugurated the Pakistan-China Business Conference, in line with his vision to support, promote and lead collaboration between the businessmen of the two countries.
At the sidelines of the SCO summit — held from August 31 to September 1 — the two nations sought to explore new avenues to expand their bilateral ties and cooperation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged support for Pakistan’s home-grown capacity for development, expressing readiness to build China-Pakistan Economic Corridor 2.0 and upgrade the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement, and step up cooperation in industries, agriculture, and mining sectors.
The premier’s ongoing visit is also expected to mark the formal launch of the second phase of the CPEC-II, which focuses on industrial cooperation.
In the meeting, PM Shehbaz stressed the “significance of the CPEC as a flagship project of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to help both countries to build an even stronger Pakistan-China community with a shared future”.
Pakistan and China share a longstanding strategic partnership with ties that span various sectors, including trade, energy, defence, and infrastructure.
The Pakistani government has sent 1,000 agriculture graduates from Pakistan to China to learn modern techniques, while about 30,000 students from Pakistan have been getting education and training in China, the PM said during his visit, while addressing the students and faculty members of China’s Tianjin University.
In June, China rolled over $3.4 billion in loans to Pakistan to help boost Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves.
PM in his speech at Tianjin University, reiterated that all endeavours and initiatives of the current government of Pakistan “closely align with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision and philosophy”.
