Prime Minister departs for weeklong official visit to China

Lahore: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Friday left here for China on a weeklong official visit, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The prime minister is accompanied by a high level delegation including Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, CM Sindh Murad Ali Shah, CM Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak and CM Balochistan Sanaullah Zehri.

Besides, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq, State Minister for IT Anusha Rehman, PM’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz are also accompanying the prime minister.

During the visit, the prime minister would mainly join 27 heads of states and governments to attend ‘Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation’ being hosted by Chinese government in Beijing on May 14-15.

The Belt and Road Forum (BRF) is part of the “Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road” (OBOR) initiative launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013. China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship program of the OBOR.

The Forum is aimed at promoting common development through win-win cooperation.

At BRF, the prime minister is scheduled to address the high level dialogue as well as both the sessions of leaders’ roundtable.

He is among only three world leaders who would address the concluding session.

During his visit, the prime minister would hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. On the occasion, a number of agreements and MoUs related to the CPEC projects are also expected to be signed.

On the sidelines of the Forum, the prime minister is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with several other heads of state and government attending the event.

Prime Minister Sharif is also scheduled to visit Hangzhou province and Hong Kong where his interaction with business leaders and participation in investment conferences are on the agenda.