BEIJING /ISLAMABAD    -       China on Monday warmly welcomed Prime Minister Shehbaz 
Sharif’s visit and said it looked 
forward to further advancing 
high-level strategic cooperation 
between the two countries and 
bringing more fruitful outcomes 
from Sino-Pak friendship to the 
benefit of the two people. 
“Tomorrow, Prime Minister 
Shehbaz Sharif’s visit will begin. China warmly welcomes 
him and looks forward to further advancing our high-level 
strategic cooperation and bringing more fruitful outcomes from 
our friendship to the benefit of 
the two people,” Chinese Foreign 
Ministry Spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said during his briefing held 
here at the International Press 
Center (IPC) on Monday. 
The prime minister will arrive in 
China on a two-day official visit on 
Tuesday (today) at the invitation 
of Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang. A 
high-level delegation will accompany the prime minister who will 
be on his first visit to China since 
assuming office in April 2022. 
Responding a question, the 
spokesperson said that China 
highly appreciated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks 
about China-Pakistan Economic 
Corridor (CPEC) and his expectation to the visit. 
“The prime minister said in a 
recent interview that CPEC has 
made great development and he 
also expressed his expectation 
for the upcoming China’s visit. 
“We believe they show the importance he (the prime minister) attaches to the visit to 
China, high-quality of China-Pakistan relations and deep friendship between our two peoples” 
the spokesperson commented. 
Zhao Lijian said that no matter 
how the international or domestic 
situations had evolved, China Pakistan friendship had been carried 
on from generation to generation. 
“Our two countries have always 
supported each other on issues 
concerning respective major interests and have stood together 
and help each other in the face of major natural disasters,” he added. He said that the Chinese side 
would also like to take this opportunity to commend the major 
outcomes of CPEC. 
‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT’
The spokesperson said that as 
a flagship program of the Belt 
and Road Initiative (BRI), the 
CPEC has become a landmark 
of China-Pakistan cooperation, 
adding, “It has boosted economic development, improved people’s livelihoods and generated 
positive socio-economic effects 
in Pakistan.” 
Zhao Lijian said that recently, the 11th meeting of the CPEC 
Joint Cooperation Committee 
(JCC) had successfully been held. 
Multiple common understandings were arranged about future 
development of CPEC.
This is PM Shehbaz Sharif’s 
first visit to China since assuming office in April 2022 and follows his meeting with President 
Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022. A high-level 
delegation will accompany the 
prime minister, the PM Office

said in a statement on Monday.
The prime minister will be 
among the first leaders to visit China following the historic 20th National Congress of 
the Communist Party of China. “The prime minister’s visit represents the continuity of 
frequent leadership level exchanges between Pakistan and 
China,” the PM Office said.
During his stay, the prime 
minister will meet President 
Xi Jinping and hold delegation-level talks with Premier Li 
Keqiang. The two sides will review the All-Weather Strategic 
Cooperation Partnership and 
exchange views on regional 
and global developments. “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 statement added.
‘Ambassador Nong Rong calls 
on PM’
Prime Minister Shehbaz 
Sharif on Monday held an indepth meeting with Chinese 
ambassador Nong Rong encompassing diverse matters 
ahead of his two-day official 
visit to China starting Tuesday. 
It was highlighted in the meeting that the visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to China 
would further strengthen trade 
and economic ties, the PM Office said. Special Assistant to 
PM Tariq Fatemi also attended 
the meeting. ‘China’s development model’
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said he looked 
forward to meeting the Chinese 
leadership for a series of “productive and fruitful meetings” 
aimed at boosting business, 
strategic and people-to-people 
relations.
Shehbaz Sharif, who is set to 
embark on a two-day visit to 
China on Tuesday, said Pakistan strongly needed to emulate the Chinese model of development for its sustainable 
progress and prosperity.
Addressing here at the first 
steering committee meeting 
of the Pakistan China Business 
and Investment Forum (PCBIF), he emphasised creating 
favourable environment for 
building a business-to-business relationship.
 “Let’s join hands and move 
forward to create a win-win 
situation for the Chinese and 
Pakistani businessmen and investors,” he said. The prime 
minister mentioned the huge 
potential existing between the 
two countries and called for 
streamlining the business procedures in Pakistan to benefit from China being the second-largest economy in the 
world.
He termed the China Pakistan 
Economic Corridor (CPEC) a 
game-changer for development 
in Pakistan with billions of dollars of investment already committed by Chinese companies.
He also recalled how the 
CPEC projects resulted in helping Pakistan overcome its massive power outages.
Pacing up the CPEC projects, 
he said, would not only boost 
dividends for Pakistan but also 
increase the country’s business 
presence in China.
He stressed the relocation of 
the labour-intensive Chinese 
industry to Pakistan in view of 
the cheap local labour by establishing Special Economic 
Zones, calling it a win-win scenario for the business houses 
of both countries.
In the agriculture sector, he 
proposed learning from the 
Chinese modern techniques to 
increase yield and establish in 
this regard agro-based industrial houses.
Shehbaz Sharif expressed 
confidence that launched in 
January, the PCBIF would promote business linkages besides 
identifying promising investment opportunities to nurture 
the business environment between the two countries.
He expressed gratitude to 
China for being one of the largest donors of relief assistance 
for the flood-affected people in 
Pakistan and also for setting up 
an air bridge for the supply of 
tents, food, and medicine.
He lauded the efforts of Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong 
for his immense contribution towards strengthening Pak-China relations in diverse fields. Federal Minister 
for Planning, Development 
and Special Initiatives Dr Ahsan Iqbal terming Pakistan and 
China as iron brothers stressed 
the need to further exploit the 
potential of their economic cooperation.
He said the CPEC had added a 
new dimension to the bilateral 
relations of Pakistan and hoped 
that PCBIF would encourage 
Chinese investment in Pakistan 
because the future belonged to 
“turning the iron brotherhood 
into economic partnership”.
He urged the PCBIF to work 
towards the inclusion of Pakistani enterprises into China’s 
global supply chain.
“The best help China can provide to Pakistan is to help improve its export potential,” he 
said, adding that the government looked forward to building a robust private sector 
partnership with Chinese enterprises.
In this regard, he assured removing bottlenecks in a way to 
attract Chinese investors.
Federal Minister for Board 
of Investment Chaudhry Salik 
Hussain said BOI was fostering 
business cooperation between 
Pakistan and China and also 
signed a framework agreement 
on promoting Special Economic Zones and relocation of industries to Pakistan.
Aimed at industrial cooperation, he said, the BOI had 
drafted a set of joint initiatives 
which would be submitted to 
the Chinese investors and enterprises during the visit of PM 
Shehbaz Sharif to China. Chinese Ambassador and Patron 
PCBIF Nong Rong expressed 
satisfaction with the pace of 
work of the forum which included the holding of first-ever 
meeting of steering committee 
and the launch of an exclusive 
website. He said China was always ready to support Pakistan in difficult times and mentioned the solidarity shown by 
the Chinese leadership for Pakistan in the wake of the unprecedented flood disaster resulting in the loss of lives and 
property.
In line with the directive of 
Chinese President Xi Jinping, 
he said the country would continue to provide flood relief assistance to Pakistan.
He said China’s relief assistance had reached 644 million 
RMB and added that a medical 
team from China was already in 
Pakistan to help out the people 
in distress. He said that during 
the upcoming visit of PM Shehbaz Sharif to China, the leadership would announce further 
assistance for Pakistan.
He said Pakistan and China 
supported each other, no matter what the international or 
domestic situation turned into.
“The Chinese side is committed to playing the role in the development under the umbrella 
of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” he said.
The Secretary PCBIF highlighted that the forum was extending facilitation to the Chinese and Pakistani investors 
through an exclusive website 
providing information about 
the business procedures to ensure an optimal environment.