Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday reaffirmed their resolve to the building of the Pakistan-China community for a shared future in the new era, as the former completed his four-day trip to the neighbouring country.
According to the Prime Minister Office statement, PM Imran renewed his invitation to President Xi Jinping to undertake a visit to Pakistan at his early convenience. This was the first meeting of the two leaders since the PM’s visit to China in October 2019.
It added that the two leaders reviewed the entire gamut of Pakistan-China bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, in a warm and cordial atmosphere.
Prime Minister Imran congratulated the leadership and people of China on the "successful" hosting of the 24th Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and extended his best wishes on the Chinese Lunar New Year.
"The PM underscored that China was Pakistan’s steadfast partner, staunch supporter and iron brother. The All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership between Pakistan and China had withstood the tests of times and the two nations firmly stood side by side in realizing their visions and shared aspirations of peace, stability, development and prosperity," it read.
Moreover, the premier briefed President Xi on a people-centred geo-economics vision and his government’s policies for Pakistan’s sustained growth, industrial development, agricultural modernisation, and regional connectivity.
He lauded China’s continued support and assistance to Pakistan’s socio-economic development which had "greatly benefitted" from the high-quality development of CPEC. PM Imran welcomed increased Chinese investments in CPEC’s Phase-II that centred on "industrialization and improving people’s livelihoods."
Furthermore, the PM highlighted that atrocities being perpetrated in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and the "persecution of minorities in India in advancing the Hindutva mindset of RSS-BJP, was a threat to regional peace and stability."
Both leaders acknowledged that a peaceful Afghanistan would promote economic development and connectivity in the region and called on the international community to promptly assist the Afghan people in averting a humanitarian catastrophe.
Earlier, the state broadcaster reported that PM Imran departed for Pakistan after completing his four-day trip to China where he held meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and other countries leaders.
According to a tweet shared by the PTV News, "On the conclusion of his four day visit to China, Prime Minister Imran Khan is being seen off by the embassy staff at Beijing Capitall International Airport, Beijing/China."
PM Imran held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, in Beijing on Saturday. This was confirmed by Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry in a post shared on his official Twitter handle.
The information minister said that Kashmir and Afghanistan were important topics of discussion in meetings held with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
“Just a moment ago, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Li has ended. It was followed by a meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat. Kashmir and Afghanistan were the main topics of discussion in both the meetings,” he tweeted.
China, as a political, economic, and strategic partner of Pakistan, had always played a critical role, the minister added to his tweet.
Prime Minister Imran Khan met with President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony here on Saturday and the two leaders exchanged views in detail on the entire gamut of bilateral relations.
According to a handout issued by PM Office, the two leaders reaffirmed their resolve to comprehensively upgrade the Pakistan-Uzbekistan partnership across the broad spectrum and continue taking practical steps for implementation of the key projects.
Prime Minister Imran Khan underscored the importance of enhanced trade and economic cooperation, particularly through operationalizing the landmark bilateral Transit Trade Agreement (UPTTA) and finalizing the Preferential Trade Agreement.
He also reiterated Pakistan’s full support to the Trans-Afghan railway project and exchanged views on the next steps in taking it forward over the coming months.
Both the leaders also exchanged views on issues of regional peace and stability. The two sides stressed the need to continue economic and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan by the international community to avoid any further deterioration of the situation.
(With input from NNI)
