Beijing, China – Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the “iron-clad and all-weather strategic cooperative partnership” and advancing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to a second phase – CPEC 2.0 – during meetings held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
President xi pledged support for Pakistan’s advancement capacity, expressing readiness to upgrade the China-Pakistan Free Trade agreement and increase cooperation in industries, agriculture, and mining. PM Shehbaz emphasized the significance of CPEC as a flagship project of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aiming to build a stronger Pakistan-China community with a shared future.
During his visit to China, PM Shehbaz also held meetings with senior executives of leading Chinese enterprises, inviting them to consider Pakistan as a preferred investment destination, notably for relocating industries into special economic zones. He highlighted Pakistan’s “unique comparative advantage” including a skilled and cost-effective labor pool, competitive input costs, and strategic connectivity.
Minister li, admiring Pakistan’s economic reform agenda, stated that China regards Pakistan as an “ironclad brother and All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partner” and expressed a firm resolve to elevate bilateral relations.PM Shehbaz also presided over a business-to-business (B2B) conference to review outcomes from a previous meeting in Shenzhen in June 2024 and outline future plans. The Pakistani government has facilitated the education of approximately 30,000 students in China and sent 1,000 agriculture graduates to China to learn modern techniques.
