Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pak-China friendship has become an essential element for regional peace and stability.
Speaking at a ceremony on 70 years of Pak-China relations in Islamabad, FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi noted that China has always stood by Pakistan on Kashmir issue and that the two countries share strategic, economic and developmental priorities.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has backed ‘One-China Policy’ and has supported China on various geo-political issues such as Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and South China Sea, he said.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi noted that Pakistan-China friendship is rooted deeply in the hearts and minds of the people of the two countries comprising of the finest tradition of standing by each other through difficult times
The foreign minister also praised China’s cooperation and assistance to Pakistan in light of prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.
China provided Pakistan with more than three and a half million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as a gift, whereas it also assisted NIH in local production of COVID-19 vaccine named PakVac.
Pakistan looks forward for a multifaceted relationship with China. He said our future vision is to combine Infrastructure, Knowledge, Digital, Health and Green Corridors to make CPEC a “People’s Corridor of Prosperity and Progress”.
The Foreign Minister said the CPEC has helped us in infrastructure development and address our energy needs in the first phase. He said in the second phase, our focus is on industrialization, agriculture cooperation, socio economic development and job creation.
He said we have prioritized three Special Economic Zones in the second phase of CPEC. We welcome businessmen and entrepreneurs from all countries to benefit from our investment friendly regime and reap economic dividends from these SEZs.
FM Qureshi reiterated that Pakistan will continue to firmly advance CPEC and ensure timely completion of the corridor related projects.
