Government committed to making CPEC high-quality demonstration project of BRI: FM Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has called for forging energies to jointly build closer China-Pakistan community of shared future in the emerging era.

He said this while virtually addressing the ruling parties’ dialogue between the Communist Party of China and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Wednesday.

He said that Pakistan-China relations have transformed into an ‘All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership’ after seven decades. He said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a transformational project and it is the top priority of the PTI government to complete the ongoing CPEC projects. “We are fully committed to complete ongoing CPEC projects and make CPEC a high-quality demonstration project of BRI,” he added.

He said that PTI’s vision of building Naya Pakistan and the ideology of CPC of realising ‘Great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’ carry similarity of goals as per the aspirations of their people.

The foreign minister said that 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.

Qureshi said that party-to-party relations are an important facet of the bilateral cooperation, adding that CPC and PTI enjoyed cordial relations. In the past few years, we have learnt from each other’s experiences through enhanced interaction and mutual exchanges, he added.

He said that PTI Chairman and Prime Minister Imran Khan also acknowledged that China’s remarkable achievements in all around national development are a role model for all developing countries.

Qureshi recalled the inaugural interaction for this forum in Beijing in March 2019, which said had been able to carry forward the momentum of the last discussions and further solidify good cooperation between PTI and CPC. He said that 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 CPC and General Secretary Xi Jinping for these momentous accomplishments.

He said that Pakistan looked forward to further enhancing development and construction of CPEC in its second phase with more focus on industrialisation, poverty alleviation, job creation and socio-economic development.

During the 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.