ISLAMABAD - Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s vision of building Naya (new) Pakistan and the ideology of Communist Party of China of realising ‘Great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’ carry similarity of goals as per the aspirations of their people.
In his virtual address to the Ruling Parties Dialogue between PTI and CPC, held at Islamabad and Beijing, FM Qureshi said the PTI was willing to further deepen party-to-party cooperation with CPC, learn from each other, and share vital experiences on governance, party building and party organisation.
“We stand ready to enhance cooperation between our two countries and two political parties for realisation of our respective dreams,” he said.
The PTI and CPC also inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on further strengthening their cooperation.
Qureshi said party-to-party relations were an important facet of the bilateral cooperation. The Communist Party of China and PTI, he said, enjoyed cordial relationship.
Foreign minister says Pak-China cooperation to be enhanced
In past few years, he said, “we have learnt from each other’s experiences through enhanced interaction and mutual exchanges.”
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan, the PTI chairman, acknowledged that China’s remarkable achievements in all around national development were a role model for all developing countries.
He said Pakistan and China had completed seventy years of ‘iron clad’ friendship on May 21, 2021 and mentioned that CPC would celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding this year in July.
He congratulated the people of two countries, the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Xi Jinping for these momentous accomplishments.
With joint efforts of successive generations and leaderships of two countries, he said, China-Pakistan friendship had gone from strength-to-strength with each passing day.
“Our relationship is based on mutual trust, understanding and commonality of interests. This relationship is deeply rooted in the hearts of peoples of two countries and has withstood tests of time,” he added.
Qureshi termed China Pakistan Economic Corridor a transformational project and the top priority of the PTI government. “We are fully committed to complete ongoing CPEC projects and make CPEC a high-quality demonstration project of the Belt and Road Initiative,” he added.
He said Pakistan looked forward to further enhance development and construction of CPEC in its second phase with more focus on industrialization, poverty alleviation, job creation and socio-economic development.
During COVID-19 pandemic, he mentioned the exemplary cooperation where the two countries supported each other to effectively control the pandemic.
Qureshi congratulated the Chinese leadership and the nation for a successful ‘People’s War’ against the pandemic and remarkable economic recovery, and thanked Chinese leadership for consistent support to Pakistan in its fight against the pandemic.