President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday met his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping and discussed the positive trajectory of the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and China, reaffirming support for each other on the issues of core interest.
Zardari, who is currently on a five-day visit to China, met his Chinese counterpart at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, stated a press release issued by the President Secretariat.
During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the positive trajectory of the bilateral relationship, regional and international issues of common interest, and opportunities to even further expand the scope of bilateral partnership, especially through continued high-level exchanges.
President Zardari reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast commitment to its all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China and underlined the unique, time-tested and special relationship between the two countries.
He also commended China’s exemplary development, progress and prosperity, calling it a manifestation of the vision of the Chinese leadership and the dynamism of the Chinese people.
He also paid rich tribute to President Xi for China’s profound contributions to global development under the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). He termed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a “shining model of the BRI’s visionary concept of win-win cooperation”.
Both sides also discussed the high-quality development of CPEC 2.0 and its vital role in promoting regional connectivity, shared benefits and common prosperity, including through partnerships with other countries.
They underlined the significance of people-to-people linkages and cultural exchanges for strengthening the China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future in the New Era.
President Zardari extended the invitation to President Xi to visit Pakistan, emphasising that the people and government of Pakistan hold him in high esteem as a visionary leader and as a special friend of Pakistan.
This is a developing story and is being updated with further details.
