CM Punjab arranges a ceremony in the honour of Chinese Ambassador

Lahore: Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan, Sun Weidong met Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif in Islamabad today. Matters of mutual interest, bilateral relations and the agreements of investment of billions of dollars signed between Pakistan and China were discussed on the occasion.

The Chief Minister said that the agreements of investment of billions of dollars signed with China will be implemented speedily. He said that these agreements do not involve loan of even a single penny and total investment is being made by China. He thanked Chinese government for expressing full confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his government. He said that implementation of these agreements will remove darkness from the country and a new era of progress and prosperity will usher in.

While addressing a reception arranged in the honour of Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong in Islamabad ,Shahbaz Sharif said that there can be no hurdle in Pak-China relations and the elements trying to hamper the process of progress of Pakistan due to the agreements with China have faced disappointment. Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong said that Pakistan is a close friend of China and China considers Pakistan’s problem as its own. He said that projects of investment of billions of dollars will further expand relationship between the two countries.

Shahbaz Sharif has said that as a result of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s recent visit to China, agreements for ten big power generation projects and more than 40 billion dollars of mutual cooperation under Pak-China Economic Corridor have been signed and there is no other example of such a huge investment in the history of Pakistan. He said that China is a very reliable and sincere friend of Pakistan and has generously supported the country in every hour of trial including floods, earthquakes and wars. He said that China is always ready for cooperation with Pakistan in the development of economic, social, defense and technical sectors and Pakistan should fully benefit from the sincere and friendly cooperation of China.

Provincial Minister for Home Col.(R) Shuja Khanzada, Member Provincial Assembly Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, former foreign secretary Abdul Sattar, Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Observer Zahid Malik, Executive Editor Gohar Zahid Malik, diplomats, administrative authorities of Chinese business houses in Pakistan and prominent personalities of Pakistani business community were present in large numbers on this occasion.

The Chief Minister said that the peoples of Pakistan and China are proud of the friendship between the two countries. He said that China has fully supported Pakistan in every hour of difficulty and always played a positive role like a true friend. He said that China considers Pakistan as a friend and a partner at equal level. He said that no power can undermine Pak-China friendship and China with a foreign exchange of four trillion dollars has the second biggest economy of the world. He said that instead of military confrontation with other international powers, China has carved out a place for itself in the world on the basis of trade, economic cooperation, technology and hard work and Pak-China friendship is unprecedented in the current history. He said that China has set up power projects of 20 thousand megawatts in India and the volume of trade between China and India is more than 80 billion dollars. Whereas, he said, the trade between China and Pakistan is about seven billion dollars and Pakistani leaderships are to blame for this as no attempt was made during the last 68 years for expanding cooperation between China and Pakistan and time and resources were wasted. He said that now is the time to move forward and take measures for increasing Pak-China cooperation.

Shahbaz Sharif said that Pakistan is a peaceful country and wants durable peace in the region. He said that it is through peace that India and Pakistan can remove poverty and backwardness of their peoples and bring about progress and prosperity as both the countries are nuclear powers and war is no solution to any problem. He said that Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong has played a commendable role for promoting cooperation between China and Pakistan under Pak-China Economic Corridor. He said that new avenues of progress and prosperity have opened up in Pakistan due to projects of power generation, construction of infrastructure and cooperation in social and defense sectors under Pak-China Economic Corridor and expansion of this cooperation will be better for the development of Pakistan and this region. The Chief Minister said that think tanks, notables of every sector, journalists, intellectuals, politicians, diplomats and policy-makers should play their due role in this regard.

Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong while speaking on the occasion said that new avenues of cooperation have opened up between Pakistan and China due to economic corridor. He said that due to special interest and the efforts made by Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Pak-China friendship has strengthened and the mutual cooperation between the two countries will increase with the passage of time. He said that China has always promoted relationship with Pakistan on priority basis and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent visit to China has yielded positive and meaningful results. He said that genuine progress is being made towards promotion of cooperation between the two countries in power, communication, technology, trade, economic and defense sectors and agreements of economic cooperation worth more than 40 billion dollars including implementation of more than 10 energy projects have been signed during the visit. He said that the ongoing cooperation between the two countries will help bring them closer and efforts will continue for promoting bilateral cooperation between China and Pakistan.

Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Observer Zahid Malik said that China is a great friend of Pakistan and has extended all out help and assistance to it in the hour of need. He said that through his newspaper he is apprising the people of economic cooperation between Pakistan and China and highlighting economic activities and the positive role played by China in accelerating economic activities in the country. A memorandum of understanding between Chinese news agency Zhan Bhao and Pakistan Observer has been signed, he added. He said that Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has the interest of the people and the country at heart and believed in hard work, honesty and public service. He said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has played a commendable role in the strengthening of Pak-China friendship.