News
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Ex-envoys call for Sino-Pak cooperation
Chinese envoys say relations between two countries time-tested
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China should increase their cooperation in the fields of energy, economic cooperation and infrastructure development, former Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Lu Shulin said on Friday.
Addressing the audience at a roundtable organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), Lu said, “I don’t have any doubt that construction of a railway or energy pipelines between China and Pakistan are achievable, because when it comes to the relations between these two friendly neighbours realisation of dreams is only a matter of time.”
The former envoy called the Karakoram Highway (KKH) a symbol of Pak-China friendship and added that the Chinese government would do everything to remove the blockade of KKH due to Attabad Lake.
Zhao Gang, another former Chinese ambassador to Pakistan and head of the visiting delegation, said that China’s relationship with Pakistan was a mutually beneficial partnership in which both the countries treat one another as equal partners.
Gang said he sees a great potential in Pak-China relations in the fields of energy, economic cooperation, and infrastructure development. “Roads, railways, energy infrastructure, and ports are a must for economic progress,” he said.
He called economic development an important source of political stability, and added that Chinese companies were interested in investing in Pakistan, but were usually deterred by the security concerns of their personnel.
Lu and Gang were of the opinion that China and Pakistan need to improve their relations not only at the political and strategic levels but also at the economic level. Zhao stressed the need for implementation of the already concluded agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between the two countries.
On the future of Afghanistan, Zhao said that China wanted a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk