TASHKENT, July 29(ABC): Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here on Thursday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the sidelines of the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), discussing bilateral relations and issues of mutual interests.
Noting that China and Pakistan are true friends and good brothers who share weal and woe and treat each other with all sincerity, Wang said no matter how the situation at home and abroad may change, both sides will unswervingly adhere to and safeguard the China-Pakistan friendship and staunchly support each other’s core interests and major concerns.
China, Wang said, will continue to firmly support Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, exploring a development path suited to its national conditions, and achieving unity, stability, prosperity and strength.
China will also support Pakistan in playing a more important role in regional and international affairs, Wang added.
He said that China appreciates the new Pakistani government’s commitment to deepening the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan, and is willing to continue in-depth strategic communication with Pakistan to jointly build a closer China-Pakistan community of shared future in the new era and inject new connotations of the times into the ironclad friendship between the two countries.
The two sides, Wang said, should continue to deepen the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and practical cooperation, enhance infrastructure cooperation, and strengthen industrial cooperation as well as production and supply chain connectivity between the two countries.
Wang said China supports Chinese enterprises to invest in Pakistan, helps Pakistan accelerate its industrialization, is ready to import more quality agricultural products from Pakistan, and resume and expand transport links and personnel exchanges between the two countries in an orderly manner.
For his part, the Pakistani foreign minister said the Pakistan-China friendship has been strengthened over time, and Pakistan has always taken the all-weather friendship with China as the cornerstone of its external relations.
He thanked China for strongly supporting Pakistan in safeguarding territorial integrity and realizing its economic and social development, stressing that Pakistan will continue to firmly stand with China on issues concerning China’s core interests and major concerns.
Looking forward to strengthening high-level exchanges and strategic communication to inject new impetus into bilateral cooperation, Zardari said Pakistan will speed up the building of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to demonstrate the “new Pakistan speed” and is willing to actively explore the extension of the corridor to Afghanistan.
He also thanked the Chinese side for facilitating the return of Pakistani students to China to resume their study and the increase of direct flights between the two countries.
The Pakistani side highly appreciates China’s leading role in upholding multilateralism, maintaining world peace and tranquility, promoting sustainable global development and addressing global challenges, Zardari said, adding that Pakistan supports and is willing to actively participate in the implementation of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He stressed that Pakistan attaches great importance to ensuring the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan. The terrorists involved in the April 26 terrorist attack are enemies of the Pakistan-China friendship and also enemies of Pakistan, and Pakistan will severely punish them.
Pakistan, Zardari said, will make every effort to push for upgraded security work to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Wang expressed appreciation for this and hoped that Pakistan would speed up the investigation of the April 26 terrorist attack and punish the perpetrators.
Wang also expressed the hope that the two sides would reach agreement on the plan of the upgraded security work and implement it as soon as possible.
The two sides pledged to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the SCO and the Group of 77 plus China, continue to uphold true multilateralism, jointly defend the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, and advance the democratization of international relations.