Gilani, Chinese PM vow to strengthen strategic ties

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday reiterated the resolve to further strengthen their strategic bilateral ties in trade, economy, energy, defence and other areas.The two leaders, who had a brief meeting here on the sidelines of the 9th SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meeting hosted by Tajikistan, had a frank exchange of views on a variety of subjects, including bilateral relations, situation in the region as well as matters of international importance.Both the leaders noted that Pakistan and China enjoy exemplary relationship with a high degree of mutual trust, understanding and convergence of views on various regional and international issues.

Premier Wen Jiabao also conveyed the sympathies of the people and government of China over the devastation caused by recent floods in Pakistan which besides causing huge economic losses affected around 20 million people across the country.

Prime Minister Gilani thanked the Chinese Premier for their generous assistance in the relief and recovery efforts of the Government of Pakistan as well as their support in the reconstruction of affected areas.

The Prime Minister said the year 2011, being the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China, should jointly be celebrated with year long events, as the Pakistan-China Friendship Year.

He said the people of Pakistan regard the Chinese Premier as the leader of their most beloved nation on earth and look forward to his visit to Pakistan next month.

Prime Minister Gilani hoped that the visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to Pakistan will undoubtedly prove another key milestone in China-Pakistan strategic cooperative partnership.

He said the two sides should work to finalize an important political document on the “Next Steps in our Strategic Cooperation Partnership”, to be signed at the level of the Prime Ministers.

The Prime Minister proposed that the Document should include reiteration of the mutually cherished principles that underpin their relationship like cooperation and good neighbourly relations; strategic partnership for peace and security; enhanced economic cooperation; and strengthening of people-to-people and cultural ties.

The Prime Minister was of the view that the next plan period should instead be for ten years as most of the projects take five to eight years to complete.

Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar, Secretary Foreign Affairs Salman Bashir, Pakistan’s Ambassador in Dushanbe Khalid Usman Kaisar and senior officials were also present on the occasion.