Daily Times

BEIJING: Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang among other dignitaries met on Saturday as the two countries signed fifteen agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) for mutual cooperation in diverse fields.

Agreements relating to elimination of poverty in Pakistan, strengthening of mutual cooperation in the field of agriculture, industrial sectors and technical training, cooperation between Islamabad and Beijing police were signed. Moreover, agreements were also signed for cooperation between the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Chinese Science Academy and between Chinese Academy of Science and Pakistan Metrological Department.

The two countries signed an MoU for cooperation in forestry, earth sciences and transfer of electronics. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Chinese counterpart Premier Li Keqiang.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Minister for Planning Makhdoom Khusro Bukhtiar, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood, Chief Minister of Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan and Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Masood Khalid were also present during the meeting.

PM Imran, President Jingping meet

Earlier on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated his country’s firm commitment to strengthen Pakistan-China strategic cooperative partnership for a shared future and assured his country’s steadfast support to Pakistan on all issues of core interest.

Read story: China will not let Pakistan down

At a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi told Imran Khan, who is on his first official visit to China, that he highly valued the two country’s relations. “I attach great importance to China-Pakistan relations and am willing to work together with the prime minister to strengthen the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership and build a new era of China-Pakistan destiny,” he said.