Islamabad - Following talks between visiting Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday, both sides have agreed to enhance pragmatic cooperation in various fields.
During the meeting, Wang said that China is willing to work with Pakistan to further synergize their development strategies, conduct systematic exchanges on governance experience and improve long-term cooperation plans.
Noting that the Pakistan-China relations are at their best in history, Qureshi said during the meeting that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's recent visit to China was very successful, and the leaders of the two countries have reached a large number of important consensus.
“The Pakistan-China friendship is the cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy,” he said, adding that as all-weather strategic partners, Pakistan and China have stood together through thick and thin, helped and supported each other, as well as stood firmly together at critical moments.
“The Pakistani side stands ready to work with China to implement the consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries, and expand practical cooperation in various fields including agriculture, economy and trade, finance and information technology,” Qureshi said while calling for increased investment from China to help push Pakistan's industrialization process.
Wang said that the Pakistan-China All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership is unique and time-tested, and the two countries have become good neighbours, good friends, good partners and good brothers who trust each other.
“The traditional friendship between China and Pakistan is rock-solid, which is a precious treasure for both sides,” he said.
“China hopes that Pakistan will get more deeply involved in China's new development landscape with a further convergence of interests.
“China is willing to expand imports from Pakistan and support Chinese enterprises in investing in Pakistan, so as to help Pakistan enhance its capacity of independent development,” Wang added.
Qureshi welcomed Wang to come over to attend the 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), saying that the first time participation by a Chinese foreign minister in the meeting is of historical significance, which shows China's support for Pakistan and that China attaches great importance to Islamic countries.
“As an OIC founding member, Pakistan is willing to push the OIC to deepen its friendly ties with China,” he said.
Wang congratulated Pakistan on its hosting the OIC foreign ministers' meeting, saying that this shows Pakistan's role of bridge between the Islamic world and the oriental civilization.
Chinese foreign minister's presence at the meeting at invitation demonstrates that China has high-level exchanges with the Islamic world and that it highly values strengthening relations with Islamic countries.
On the Ukraine issue, they expressed concerns about the spillover effect of unilateral sanctions, and the belief that the international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be observed, and called for a cease-fire realized through diplomatic dialogues.
The two sides expected the parties concerned to find a solution to the Ukraine issue based on the principle of indivisible security and set up a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe.
After their talks, the two foreign ministers witnessed the signing of cooperation documents on agriculture, education and technology, and attended a joint press conference.
Xinhua