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China vows to advance relations with Pakistan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-22 12:48

WUHAN -- China on Saturday said it would work with Pakistan to enhance the all-weather friendship and multi-tier cooperation to benefit the two peoples and contribute to regional peace and development.

State Councilor Dai Bingguo made the remarks when meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province.

Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo (R) meets with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (L) in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, February 21, 2009. [Xinhua]

"To promote the development of Sino-Pakistani friendship is our unswerving policy," Dai said, noting that the country always treated relations with Pakistan from a strategic height and a long-term perspective.

Dai hoped the two countries would upgrade the bilateral relations into a new level.

Zardari spoke highly of the Pakistan-China diplomatic relations, saying that the two nations had increasingly cemented traditional friendship and expanded cooperation in various areas in the past 50-odd years.

The president said Pakistan was grateful for China's support to its economic and social progress.

The Pakistani government would continue its friendly policy towards China, and make joint efforts with the country to deepen the mutually-beneficial cooperation in economy, trade, energy, agriculture and finance, Zardari told Dai.

Zardari and Dai also attended the signing ceremony of an agreement on trade between the two governments.

Zardari accepted a joint interview with local press before meeting with Dai. He said his country and China enjoyed comprehensive relationship, not only between political parties but also between the two peoples. He expected more efforts by the two sides to lift the existing profound friendship to a new high.

The president welcomed more Chinese businesses to invest in Pakistan, saying that his country had geographic advantage and its ports could help Chinese products enter south Asia.

"We wish a success for the business exchanges with China," he noted.

Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo (L4) meets with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (R5) in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, February 21, 2009. [Xinhua]

Zardari and his delegation arrived in Wuhan Friday evening, kicking off his second China visit.

This Hubei tour was mainly aimed to expand cooperation between the two sides in agriculture and water conservancy. The president witnessed the signing of four cooperation memorandums concerning agriculture, water conservancy and exchanges between Hubei and Pakistan's Sindh Province.

Zardari will also visit the Three Gorges Project in Yichang, another city of Hubei, to study its management and technology. He is scheduled to leave Hubei for Shanghai Sunday afternoon to continue his China tour.

He paid a four-day state visit to China in October last year, during which the two countries signed 12 deals ranging from trade and minerals to agriculture and satellites.