PM Shehbaz to visit China from May 23

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will undertake an official visit to China from May 23 to 26 at the invitation of the Chinese government, the Foreign Office said on Friday.

Speaking during the weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said the premier would hold high-level meetings with Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

During the visit, the prime minister is also scheduled to chair a Pakistan-China Business-to-Business Conference and attend a reception ceremony in Beijing.The spokesperson said the visit would further strengthen the longstanding strategic partnership between the two countries and provide an opportunity to reaffirm the “all-weather strategic cooperative partnership” between Pakistan and China.

“The two sides will review bilateral relations and cooperation in political, economic and strategic fields,” Andrabi said, adding that both countries shared a common vision of building an even closer community of shared future.

He noted that Pakistan and China had recently marked 75 years of diplomatic relations through official celebrations, adding that the two countries had consistently supported each other during difficult times over the decades.According to the spokesperson, the bilateral relationship has expanded beyond diplomacy to include strong cooperation in trade, industry, education and people-to-people exchanges.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said China had always stood by Pakistan during challenging times and that ties between the two countries had grown stronger with time.

“China has stood like a rock with Pakistan in every difficult time,” the prime minister said while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad held to commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.He recalled that Pakistan was the first Muslim-majority country to formally recognise the People’s Republic of China and described the longstanding friendship as a source of pride and satisfaction.

Separately, the government has decided to issue a commemorative Rs75 coin to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. The coin will be made available to the public from May 25 through exchange counters of the State Bank of Pakistan Banking Services Corporation.