Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday during his official visit to Beijing stated that Pakistan lies at the crossroads of important regions and has always played a pivotal role to connect ideas, cultures and trade.
According to The Nation, Khan addressed at Leaders’ Round table Session of the 2nd Belt and Road Forum, and stated that he calls for enhancing the connectivity between the countries to further expand the scope of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
PM Khan during his addressing at the round table session praised President Xi Jinping for envisioning BRI which will break barriers, connect people and integrate economies. He further said that, there is a need of a digital connectivity, mobility of labour and transferring of the skills, along with cultural links and knowledge and innovation connectivity to further enlarge the scope of BRI.
He further called up the BRI countries to establish tourism corridor which will enhance a fair cultural tourism exchanges with positive results such as developing programmes to improve skills of labour from labour surplus countries.
Praising the strong connections with China, PM Khan said that, Pakistan is a privileged country to have been an early partner of China. In addition, he mentioned that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are heading towards building highways, modernised railway network, setting up more power plants and most importantly establishing a sea port. He added that, CPEC is not a transaction but a transformation of the society.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan with his delegation also met Vice President of China Wang Qishan on Saturday. The VC hosted a special banquet on behalf of President Xi Jinping in honor of PM Khan’s visit.
The delegation included Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Minister for Water Resources Muhammad Faisal Vawda, Minister for Planning Khusro Bakhtiar, Advisor on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood.
