ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said Pakistan would have been on the brink of collapse had it not been for China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which turned it into an attractive investment destination. He was speaking at a seminar titled, ‘CPEC 2.0: Prospects and Challenges’ organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS). …

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb arrived in Beijing on Thursday for talks on power sector debt relief alongside structural reforms suggested by the International Monetary Fund, two government sources said. He held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, they said, and is leading a delegation, along with Power Minister Awais Leghari, that will discuss several proposals, including reprofiling nearly $15 …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan ruled out the possibility of sacrificing its relationship with China for the sake of improved relations with the United States, the Foreign Office said on Thursday, stressing that “Pakistan doesn’t believe in zero-sum relationships”. “For us, relations with the United States and relations with China are both important,” Foreign Office spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly …

ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb is set to embark on a three-day visit to China today, aiming to discuss the rescheduling of a $15 billion energy loan. According to sources from the Ministry of Finance, a joint working group may be established between Pakistan and China to facilitate the loan rescheduling. The discussions will also address issues related to …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday directed the authorities to expedite the process of implementing the agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) made with the Chinese government and Chinese companies, saying that any further delay would not be tolerated. “China is a time-tested friend of Pakistan who helped Pakistan in every hour of need, said Mr Shehbaz while chairing a review …

ASTANA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday raised the issue of terrorism as a major concern for member states at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and called for “meaningful” engagement with the Afghan Taliban government. PM Shahbaz arrived in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana on Wednesday for a two-day official visit, representing Pakistan at the SCO meetings where leaders and …

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday briefed his Chinese counterpart Qi Yanjun on the progress made in the probe into the Bisham attack in which five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed. During a meeting at the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations in New York, Mr Naqvi and Mr Qi discussed bilateral relations, security-related matters and cooperation between the …

China has launched a new initiative called the “Belt and Road Skills-Building-Dreams Action” to strengthen international skills cooperation among participating countries. Announced by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Tuesday, the action aims to promote joint vocational standards, share training resources, cultivate skilled trainers, achieve mutual recognition of training certificates and establish cooperative brands. These efforts ultimately …

ISLAMABAD: Building on recent engagements between Pakistan and China, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday gave the greenlight to relocate Chinese industries to Pakistan as part of joint ventures between the two countries’ companies. Chairing a meeting to discuss matters of the Board of Investment (BoI), the prime minister said that promoting both local and foreign investment in Pakistan was among the …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said time-tested Pak-China friendship is indispensable for bilateral as well as regional peace and development, expressing great satisfaction over complete political consensus in both countries on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He expressed these views while talking to Minister of International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC) Liu Jianchao, who along with a …