Pakistan, Chinese premiers vow to work on next phase of CPEC

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and the two sides reaffirmed their resolve to further strengthen their iron-clad, all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

During the meeting, the two sides also agreed to continue working closely on the next phase of upgraded China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC 2.0), which includes five new corridors, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

“During their warm and friendly meeting, the two leaders expressed their satisfaction at the positive trajectory of Pakistan-China relations,” it said.

Sharif expressed his “deepest gratitude to the Chinese leadership and nation for their unflinching support to Pakistan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and socio-economic development,” it said.

Lauding China’s transformation under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, Sharif said Pakistan wanted to emulate China’s successes and build a stronger and closer Pakistan-China community with a shared future.

Sharif highlighted the significant contribution of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — a flagship project of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — in Pakistan’s socio-economic development in the past decade, and stressed the need for early implementation of the Main Line-1 railway project and Karakorum Highway realignment and operationalisation of the Gwadar Port.

Emphasising the vast potential for B2B cooperation and investment, the Prime Minister briefed the Chinese Premier on the B2B Investment Conference held earlier in the day, where more than 300 Pakistani and 500 Chinese companies were in attendance.

He identified agriculture, mines and minerals, textile, industrial sector and IT as priority areas for mutually beneficial economic collaboration.

Sharif reiterated Pakistan’s support for President Xi’s landmark initiatives to strengthen multilateralism, including the Global Governance Initiative, Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilisation Initiative.

Both leaders also witnessed the signing of memoranda of understanding and agreements between the two countries with regard to cooperation in the development of CPEC 2.0, science and technology, IT, media, agriculture and other fields.