News
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
President Zardari starts China visit
URUMQI: President Asif Ali Zardari was given a warm red-carpet welcome when he arrived here on Tuesday on a three-day visit to China to participate in the first ever China-Eurasia Expo being held in the historic city of Urumqi, the capital of Xingjian
Uygur autonomous region, the largest province of China.
The president, upon arrival at the Urumqi Airport, was received by the vice governor of Xingjian province Arkin Tuniyazi and senior Chinese officials.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Masood Khan and other officials from Pakistan Embassy were also present at the airport to receive the president.
The president’s delegation included Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Dr Asim Hussain, Gilgit Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah, Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, Board of Investment Chairman Salim H Mandiwala, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Senator Haji Ghulam Ali and Spokesperson to President Farhatullah Babar.
Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and Asifa Bhutto Zardari also accompanied the president.
During the visit, which is aimed at strengthening business-to-business linkages between the two countries, the president will meet Chinese Vice Premier Li Kequang besides attending the Expo. President Zardari will also hold meetings with the Chinese corporate leaders during which he is expected to discuss the prospects of enhanced Pak-China trade and investment cooperation in diverse fields. The president besides attending the opening ceremony of China-Eurasia Expo will also address the main event ‘China-Eurasia Forum on Economic Development and Cooperation’ on September 1 (Thursday). He will also visit the Pakistani pavilion being set up at the China-Eurasia Expo.
The first China-Eurasia Expo, which will replace the former Urumqi Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Fair, will prove to be a platform of diplomacy between China and the Eurasian states and a channel that promotes Xingjian’s cooperation with China’s neighbouring countries, particularly Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Mangolia, the Chinese officials said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Masood Khan, while talking to this correspondent in Urumqi on Tuesday, said that as China was focusing on developing its western parts, especially Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Pakistan owing to its territorial and historic linkages with Xinjiang, could benefit from fast development of this area. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk