PM to embark on first visit to China on 16th

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar is set to undertake a three-day official visit to China from 16th of this month. He will be among the guests of honour in the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) being hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, in his maiden trip to China, will have bilateral meeting with the host Chinese President Xi Jinping and it would be his first one-to-one interaction with any top leader of P-5 countries ever since he assumed the office in August this year.

Highly placed sources in the PM House told ‘The News’ on Saturday that Kakar will also have meetings with some other world leaders on the sidelines of the forum. He will stay in Beijing till October 18.

Chinese Foreign Ministry had earlier said that with 2023 marking the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), slated forum would encompass deliberations and discussions about various aspects of the initiative. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is flagship project of the gigantic plan that was conceived by President Xi. The accord for the project was inked by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on April 20, 2015 in Beijing with Chinese President Xi.

China has said that 90 countries have confirmed attendance for its BRI Forum, with several world dignitaries accepting the invitation to attend the forum, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Argentine President Alberto Fernandez.

China’s Foreign Ministry said that the country has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organisations.

Chinese spokesman reminded that over the past decade, Belt and Road cooperation had achieved fruitful outcomes as it had established more than 3,000 cooperation projects and galvanised nearly $1 trillion of investment.

Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, who had a sideline meeting with his Chinese counterpart early this week at a regional conference held in Chinese autonomous region Tibet, had a discussion about the CPEC. Both the dignitaries also expressed satisfaction about the trajectory of the future planning of the project which is entering into second phase.

Foreign Minister Jilani, Minister for Planning Sami Saeed and Foreign Secretary Dr Muhammad Syrus Qazi will also be part of the entourage of the prime minister for Beijing, the sources added.