The premier is scheduled to go for Beijing today, per his official Twitter account. He is one of the first political figures to travel to the neighbouring nation following the historic 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at which Xi Jinping was chosen as the party’s general secretary.
The prime minister met with President Xi in Uzbekistan last month, and this will be his first trip to China since taking office in April 2022.
Shehbaz was grateful for this “honour” as well as the Pakistani and Chinese friendship and cooperation in spite of difficulties.
The “revitalisation of CPEC” would be a major topic of discussion, among other crucial issues, according to the premier’s statement during his meeting with the Chinese leadership.
According to a tweet from Shehbaz, the second phase of CPEC “promises to usher in a new era of socio-economic progress that would elevate the standard of our people’s lives.”
Pakistan, he continued, can benefit greatly from the “Chinese economic miracle.”
Earlier, PM Shehbaz said he was looking forward to meeting the Chinese governance for a sequence of “productive and fruitful meetings” aimed at improving business, tactical, and people-to-people ties. He was speaking to the first steering committee meeting of the Pakistan-China Business and Investment Forum (PCBIF).
He emphasized the necessity for Pakistan to closely resemble the Chinese growth model to advance and prosper sustainably. He also emphasized the significance of developing an atmosphere that is conducive to forging business-to-business relationships.
He argued that in order for Pakistan to gain from China, business practises there should be simplified “Let’s join hands and move forward to create a win-win situation for the Chinese and Pakistani businessmen and investors.”
The Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) main project, CPEC, was referred to by the prime minister as a “game-changer” and he remembered how it assisted Pakistan in overcoming its severe power outages.
In order to take advantage of the inexpensive local labour, he emphasised the establishment of Special Economic Zones in Pakistan, where labor-intensive Chinese industries could relocate. He saw this as a win-win situation for business houses in both nations.
He praised the Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong’s efforts for contributing significantly to advancing Pakistan-China relations in several areas.
Before his trip to China, Shehbaz also met with the Chinese ambassador, Nong, and spoke with him about a range of topics, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Additionally, a high-level delegation was announced by the Prime Minister’s Office to go with the Prime Minister to China.“During his stay, the prime minister will meet President Xi Jinping and hold delegation-level talks with Premier Li Keqiang,” it added.
“The visit is also expected to advance the wide-ranging bilateral cooperation agenda with the conclusion of a number of MoUs/agreements in diverse areas, and consolidate the momentum of CPEC cooperation in the wake of the 11th meeting of the CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on October 27, 2022,” the report stated.