Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday expressed their resolve to further strengthen bilateral ties in economic, defence and energy sectors for mutual benefit of the two countries.
Prime Minister Gilani met the Chinese leader as he concluded his four-day official visit to China, where he attended the summit of Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, besides holding talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other SCO leaders.
Gilani and Wen Jiabao discussed the whole gamut of strategic and economic co-operation between Pakistan and China besides matters relating to agriculture, power generation and finance. The two leaders reviewed the progress on Sino-Pak bilateral ties. Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir later told APP that Prime Minister Gilani and Premier Wen Jiabao had an "excellent" meeting, covering entire spectrum of Pakistan-China relationship with complete unanimity on regional situation.
He said the two leaders reviewed strategic and defence co-operation besides having exchange of views on trade co-operation. Pakistan and China agreed to take the bilateral trade to 15 billion dollars by year 2011 from the existing 7 billion dollars, he said.
The Foreign Secretary said the two sides also discussed the measures to carry out projects of communications, including railway and road links and fibre optic. He said Pakistan and China agreed that heads of State Bank of Pakistan and People's Bank of China will meet soon.
He said China agreed to support Pakistan in agriculture and develop agri-zones by growing hybrid rice and sugarcane. Salman Bashir said Premier Wen Jiabao expressed his government's support in building medium and small dams and convincing Chinese companies to invest in this regard. Pakistan and China agreed on making efforts to realise full potential of Gwadar Port, he said.
The Foreign Secretary said Chinese side conveyed Pakistan of giving 135 scholarships to students and pledged to continue supporting education, culture and training of young officers. He said the two leaders agreed that Commission on Science and Technology would meet soon and said China was ready for the capacity-building of Pakistanis in all fields of life.
Premier Wen Jiabao said China remained committed to further its relations with Pakistan in all fields and would help the country safeguard its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. "Wen Jiabao vowed to take Sino-Pak relations to new heights," the Foreign Secretary said.
Both the leaders were of the view that the two nations were opposed to terrorism and would continue to cooperate with each other to eliminate this threat. Premier Wen Jiabao said it was high time to address the global economic crisis and find out a way to counter its impact on growing economies. He said Pakistan was an important member of the forum and was playing a key role in this regard.
During the meeting the two leaders also noted that both Pakistan and China share similar views on important regional and global issues and would continue to extend support to each other at all levels. They also agreed on exploiting the full potential of the two business communities to boost their economy and trade.
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