Pakistan's Prime Minister Sharif to head to China for key visit

Pakistan is preparing for a high-stakes diplomatic mission to Beijing as it looks to deepen its economic and strategic alliance with its most powerful neighbor.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Wednesday that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will embark on an official state visit to China from May 23–26. Dar, who also serves as deputy prime minister, confirmed he will personally accompany Sharif alongside a large, multiparty parliamentary delegation, News.Az reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

During the intensive four-day visit, Sharif is scheduled to hold critical face-to-face meetings with China’s top leadership, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. While Beijing has yet to officially confirm the scheduling details, a high-level Chinese delegation led by Cai Dafeng was notably present in the Pakistani Senate gallery during the announcement.

The trip marks a pivotal moment for the two nations as they celebrate the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. However, the core of the agenda will focus heavily on infrastructure and financial cooperation.

On the agenda: The leaders will activate two critical bilateral channels—the Pakistan-China Political Forum and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Joint Consultative Mechanism.

The focus on CPEC comes as Pakistan continues to rely heavily on Chinese investment to stabilize its infrastructure. During his Senate address, Dar went out of his way to praise Beijing's historic support, particularly highlighting China's massive financial and technical aid in eliminating crippling power outages and energy load-shedding across Pakistan.

Beyond government-to-government talks, Sharif is slated to spearhead major business-to-business forums aimed at drawing fresh Chinese private capital into Pakistan’s economy. With both nations sharing a tightly aligned vision on regional security and trade, this week's meetings in Beijing are poised to lock in the next phase of their long-standing "all-weather" partnership.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada