BEIJING: Pakistan and China will hold their annual strategic dialogue on 21st August, during which all aspects of bilateral relations between the two countries will be reviewed.
The dialogue, which will take place at the Foreign Office, will be led by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, while Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will head the Pakistani delegation. Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on 20th August for a two-day visit to attend the talks.
In addition to participating in the strategic dialogue, the Chinese Foreign Minister will hold separate meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari. He is also expected to meet with Pakistan’s military leadership.
This will be the Chinese Foreign Minister’s first visit to Pakistan since the 10th May Pakistan-India conflict, which resulted in a victory for Pakistan.
Earlier this week, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal visited China to finalize the dialogue documents and agenda during a meeting with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.
Last year’s Pakistan-China strategic dialogue was held in Beijing.
Earlier, A senior Pakistani official has expressed the hope that closer cooperation with China in high-tech fields will unlock new development opportunities and further deepen the all-weather strategic partnership between the two countries.
Describing the bilateral friendship as “now higher than the skies”, Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan’s minister for planning, development and special initiatives, expressed great satisfaction at the recent successful launch of the Pakistan Remote-Sensing Satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China’s Sichuan province.
The satellite — designed primarily for land resource surveys and disaster management — represents a significant milestone in bilateral cooperation and marks a major advancement in Pakistan’s space capabilities, he said.
“With this launch, I can proudly say that the Pakistan-China friendship — once described as higher than the Himalayas — is now higher than the skies,” Iqbal told reporters at the Pakistani embassy in Beijing. “Now, the skies bear witness to the strength of our relationship.” –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
