For the last 81 years, people have nurtured this evergreen tree of friendship, said the Pakistani Prime Minister
Islamabad, Pakistan:
Pakistan and China are “two brothers” who have nurtured the evergreen tree of mutual friendship for years, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said today as he congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping on the 71st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Shehbaz Sharif also paid tribute to the leaders and people of both the countries who worked hard to transform friendship into a cooperative strategic partnership and an iron bond.
“China and Pakistan are two brothers,” he said. “The leadership and people of the two countries have nurtured this evergreen tree of friendship for the last 61 years.”
Shehbaz Sharif said that no untoward incident could break the bonds of storm or violence in world politics.
Claiming that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) provides a strong foundation for economic cooperation, poverty alleviation and connectivity, Shahbaz Sharif said the project is a symbol not only for the two countries but also for other countries in the region.
He vowed to take the two countries’ economic ties, cooperation and mutual trust to new heights.
The ambitious USD 60 billion CPEC is a 3,000-kilometer stretch of infrastructure projects connecting China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the port of Gwadar in the western Pakistani province of Balochistan. India has expressed its concern to China over CPEC as it is being set up through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Paying tribute to the three Chinese scholars killed in the terrorist attack on Karachi University last month, Shahbaz Sharif reiterated Pakistan’s determination to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.
On the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi extended a special invitation to his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to visit China from Saturday and review bilateral relations.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published from a syndicated feed.)
