Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang will visit Pakistan after attending the SCO meeting in India

Beijing, May 4 (PTI) Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang will leave for Pakistan on Friday on a two-day visit after attending the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting hosted by India in Goa, it was announced here on Thursday.

Khin will attend the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Panaji, Goa on May 4 and 5, where his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will also attend.

Besides foreign minister, Qin is also a state councilor, a high-ranking post associated with the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).

The SCO bloc includes China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India is the leader of the group this year.

Notably, when the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced the Queen’s visit to Myanmar and India on May 2, it did not include her visit to Islamabad, although Pakistani media reported on it.

Instead, the ministry announced his visit to Pakistan separately, saying he will attend the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Thursday.

The tripartite is being held within a month of the “Neighboring Afghanistan plus Afghanistan” foreign ministers’ meeting in Samarkand, chaired by Qin.

Announcing Qin’s visit to Pakistan, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said it was his first visit to Pakistan since taking office and “an important part of recent close and frequent contacts between the high levels of China and Pakistan.”

Pakistan’s new army chief Asim Munir cited his first visit during which he held a series of meetings with top Chinese generals and Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC. Central Committee.

During General Muneer’s visit, China’s new Premier Li Qiang also held his first phone call with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and pledged continued financial assistance to Pakistan, which is facing a serious political and economic crisis.

In Pakistan, Qin will meet the Pakistani leader and co-chair the fourth round of China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue with Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari,” a foreign ministry statement said in a Q&A posted on its website on Friday. said.

“Both sides will have face-to-face and in-depth communications on bilateral relations and international and regional conditions,” it said.

“China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and iron-fisted friends. Recalling Sharif’s “successful” visit to China last November and Li’s phone call on April 27, the friendship was time honored.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed hope that the visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister will further deepen the relations between the two countries.

“China hopes that the visit will follow important common understandings between the leaders of the two countries, deepen strategic communication and practical cooperation, and promote the building of an ever-closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new future. era, and contributes positive energy to the region and the wider world,” it said.

The fifth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan foreign ministers’ dialogue within a month of the Samarkand meeting on why, “Although the Afghan people are going through very difficult times, they still face serious challenges. More support and assistance from the rest of the world is needed”.

The international community should step up engagement and dialogue with the Afghan interim government, support its efforts for reconstruction and development, and encourage it to create an inclusive government, moderate governance, develop friendly relations with its neighbors, and resolutely fight terrorism. .

Both the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of neighboring Afghanistan and the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue are important platforms for exchange and cooperation on Afghanistan-related issues and will lead to further consensus among regional countries on the Afghanistan issue. .

“China hopes to exchange views with Afghanistan and Pakistan on the situation in Afghanistan and trilateral cooperation in dialogue, so as to build consensus, strengthen mutual trust, and jointly contribute to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region,” it said. PTI KJV RUP AKJ RUP