Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar will undertake a visit to China from October 16 to October 20 October at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, PTV News has reported.

“The prime minister will hold bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping and senior Chinese leaders during the visit,” the state-run broadcaster said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday.

The visit comes a month after the two sides celebrated the 10 years of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In August this year, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng visited Pakistan to attend the celebrations. Six new documents were signed for joint cooperation during the visit.

CPEC, a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has attracted direct investments worth over $25 billion from China over the past decade.

Kakar would participate in the ‘Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation’, which is being held in Beijing on October 17. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the two-day event.

The prime minister would address the high-level forum entitled ‘Connectivity in an Open Global Economy’ to be held on 18 October 2023, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a press briefing on Thursday.

While in China, she added that the prime minister would also meet with leading Chinese entrepreneurs to expand bilateral trade and investment.

Baloch said that the caretaker prime minister would also visit Urumqi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China to meet with local leaders and businesspersons, aiming to enhance trade, investment, and people-to-people relations.

China was all set to work with Pakistan in the new decade of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the ambassador has said.

“We think that in the new decade of CPEC construction we stand ready to work with Pakistani friends from all walks of life to thoroughly implement the important consensus between President Xi Jinping and Pakistani leaders adhering to the principles of higher standards,” Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong said in an interview with Shaukat Piracha on his show Rubaroo that was aired on Aaj News on Friday.