PM to meet leadership, business community on China visit

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will undertake a five-day official visit to China from June 4-8 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

During the three-segment trip, the prime minister will visit the cities of Xi’an and Shenzhen, besides Beijing, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch announced at her weekly press briefing.

She said that Shehbaz Sharif would meet President Xi Jinping and hold delegation-level talks with Premier Li Qiang in Beijing. He will also hold meetings with Chairman of Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji and heads of key government departments, the official news agency reported.

The spokesperson said that an important aspect of the prime minister’s visit will be meetings with corporate executives of leading Chinese companies dealing in oil and gas, energy, ICT, and emerging technologies.

In Shenzhen, Prime Minister Shehbaz will address the China-Pakistan Business Forum with leading businesspersons, entrepreneurs, and investors from both countries. He will also visit Economic and Agricultural Zones in China, she added.

The prime minister’s visit to China manifests the iron-clad Pakistan-China friendship characterised by frequent high-level exchanges and dialogue.

The two sides will undertake discussions to further strengthen the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership; upgrade China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; advance trade and investment; enhance cooperation in security and defence, energy, space, science & technology, and education; and promote cultural cooperation and people-to-people contacts, thus setting the future trajectory of Pakistan-China friendship.

Earlier in the morning, Prime Minister Shehbaz chaired a meeting to review the preparations for his upcoming visit to China, wherein he directed the formulation of comprehensive plans to hold result-oriented business-to-business meetings between the two countries.

He instructed the relevant authorities to devise strategies for attracting Chinese industries to set up their units in Pakistan, assuring his government’s all-out facilitation to the industrialists and investors.

During the briefing to the prime minister on the preparations for his China visit, it was told that a delegation of industrialists, investors, and businessmen would accompany him to China’s Shenzhen city. The delegation would hold meetings with the Chinese business community to promote business-to-business linkages between the two countries.

The prime minister directed Pakistan’s ambassador to China to extend all-out facilitation to the Pakistani business delegation during its visit there.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, federal ministers including Jam Kamal Khan, Ahad Khan Cheema, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Attaullah Tarar, Dr Musaddik Malik and Abdul Aleem Khan, Minister of State Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi, PM’s Coordinator Rana Ehsan Afzal, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jahanzeb Khan and senior government officers.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Pakistan’s ambassador in Beijing joined the meeting via video link.