ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said the 70-year relationship between Pakistan and China had proved its strength with a unique level of trust shown by the two generations, governments and political parties.

Addressing a conference regarding Pakistan-China bilateral relationship, he said both the countries support each other on their respective core issues. Pakistan has always upheld ‘One-China Policy’ and supported China on Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and South China Sea issues.

The Foreign Minister said Pakistan-China all weather strategic cooperative partnership has become an anchor for peace and stability in the region.

He said China has stood by Pakistan in supporting our key strategic, economic and developmental priorities. He said China has supported Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

The Foreign Minister said Pakistan-China friendship is rooted deeply in the hearts and minds of the people of the two countries and that both the countries have the finest tradition of standing by each other through difficult times.

In line with this tradition, our cooperation against COVID-19 pandemic remained exemplary, he said and added that China has provided us over three and a half million doses of anti-Covid vaccine as a gift.

"We are also procuring COVID-19 vaccine on commercial basis. National Institute of Health in Islamabad has started local production of PakVac vaccine with the help of China" he said.

Qureshi said Pakistan looks forward for a multifaceted relationship with China. He said our future vision is to combine Infrastructure, Knowledge, Digital, Health and Green Corridors to make CPEC a “People’s Corridor of Prosperity and Progress”.

The Foreign Minister said the CPEC has helped us in infrastructure development and address our energy needs in the first phase. He said in the second phase, our focus is on industrialization, agriculture cooperation, socio economic development and job creation.

He said we have prioritized three Special Economic Zones in the second phase of CPEC. We welcome businessmen and entrepreneurs from all countries to benefit from our investment friendly regime and reap economic dividends from these SEZs.

He said Pakistan will continue to firmly advance CPEC and ensure timely completion of the corridor related projects.