Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo’an Thursday met Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and reaffirmed his country’s continued support for Pakistan’s efforts to bring about financial stability.
Appreciating bilateral financial and banking cooperation as the manifestation of the “All Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership”, the Chinese minister took note of the positive trajectory of Pakistan’s economy.
As per the Foreign Office (FO), the high-level meeting saw the two sides discussing ideas to further enhance financial cooperation, especially in view of growing business-to-business (B2B) linkages between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Deputy PM Dar underscored Islamabad’s reform agenda with its focus on governance, revenue, and ease of doing business to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and stressed the prioritisation of Chinese investments by the government in various fields including agriculture, IT, mines and minerals and renewable energy.
A day earlier, FM Dar — who reached Beijing on May 13 to co-chair the 5th Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue — met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi wherein the latter voiced Beijing’s readiness to promote an “upgraded version” of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
During the meeting, the duo agreed to sustain the growing momentum of bilateral relations in all areas of cooperation and to further deepen the iron-clad friendship.
On his four-day visit, Dar has held various high-level interactions with various Chinese officials including Chinese Executive Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Secretary-General Ambassador Zhang Ming and others.
In his interaction with Xuexiang, the FM held an in-depth discussion on various aspects of bilateral relations, including CPEC Phase II, trade, economic cooperation and investment.
He also accentuated the progress made by CPEC in energy and infrastructure and expressed confidence in the positive dividends under Phase II in the fields of industry, agriculture and mineral development.
During his stay there, the Deputy PM highlighted the government’s investor-friendly policies and invited Chinese companies to set up manufacturing and processing units in Pakistan.
