President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday paid a visit to the Chinese Embassy to extend his heartfelt condolences, on behalf of the Government of Pakistan and the people, to the Chinese leadership and the people over the passing away of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin. While signing the condolence book, the president wrote that he was deeply saddened and grieved, and his thoughts and sincere prayers were with Jiang’s family, friends and the people of China over the passing away of Jiang Zemin, the former president of the People’s Republic of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. Condoling with Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong later, the president said Jiang Zemin was a remarkable leader, a visionary and a statesman, who promoted global peace and stability at bilateral, regional and international levels, the President Secretariat Press Wing stated. President Alvi said the former Chinese president was a great and trusted friend of Pakistan who made invaluable contributions to strengthen the bilateral all-weather strategic cooperative friendship between the two countries and played a key role in further strengthening and cementing people-to-people relations. He said the time-tested friendship between Pakistan and China was based on exceptional trust, understanding, strategic communication and wide-ranging practical cooperation. The president expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Government of Pakistan and its people for the generous and meaningful Chinese support during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the devastating climate change-induced super floods which affected most parts of the country, and resulted in the loss of precious lives and livelihood of people, loss of livestock and destruction of physical infrastructure. He said Pakistan was firmly committed to the successful completion of projects under CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor), which reflected high-quality development and contributions to the socio-economic development of its remote areas. “The flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), CPEC, had transformed the economic landscape of Pakistan,” he added, and expressed the hope that the early development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) would serve as a catalyst for accelerating investment flows, and continued to remain a priority. Later, in his press statement given to official Pakistani and Chinese media, the president expressed his deepest condolences over the sad demise of the former Chinese president and said in the fast-changing world, the role of China had assumed immense importance for global and regional economic and financial stability and lasting peace.