BEIJING: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar will arrive here on Monday on an official visit to China and hold the fifth round of the China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue.

From May 13 to 16, Ishaq Dar will visit the Chinese capital at the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi.

This visit is the first official visit to China by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar after he took office. It is also an important part of the institutionalized interactions between the Chinese and Pakistani foreign ministries.

While commenting on the current relations with Pakistan and China’s expectation for the visit, a Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson said that China would like to work with Pakistan to take this visit as an opportunity to deliver on the important common understandings between the leaders, carry forward the traditional friendship, step up strategic communication and coordination, deepen practical cooperation in various areas, upgrade the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, deepen the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, and accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and ironclad friends. In recent years, the two countries have maintained close high-level exchanges and interactions at all levels, jointly responded to the evolving international and regional landscape, deepened mutually beneficial cooperation, and further strengthened the friendship between the two countries.

Right after this year’s elections in Pakistan were concluded, President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji sent congratulatory messages to Pakistani leaders to extend our sincere congratulations and best wishes.