ISLAMABAD: On the invitation of Li Keqiang, the head of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to China for a two-day official visit next week (November 1).
The prime minister will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the Foreign Office announced on Wednesday.
Following his meeting with President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022, this will be PM Shehbaz Sharif’s first trip to China since taking office in April 2022.
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was a momentous event, and the prime minister will be among the first world leaders to visit China after it.
The prime minister’s visit “represents the continuity of frequent leadership level exchanges between Pakistan and China,” according to the Foreign Office.
The prime minister will meet President Xi Jinping while in China and have delegation-level discussions with Premier Li Keqiang.
The All-Weather Strategic Cooperation Partnership will be reviewed, and the two parties will discuss regional and international trends.
The visit is also anticipated to advance a broad range of bilateral cooperation agreements, according to the FO, and to maintain the momentum of CPEC collaboration following the 11th meeting of the CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on October 27, 2022.