PM Khan to travel to China next month

ISLAMABAD: Following closely on the heels of his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Imran Khan is all set to embark on his first official trip to China in the first week of November, the Foreign Office said in a statement released on Thursday.
Accompanied by a high-level delegation, PM Khan will fly to Beijing on November 2 where he will meet President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang as part of his visit. The two sides are expected to review a range of bilateral relations and sign several agreements in various fields.
The second leg of his visit will see PM Khan travel to Shanghai to participate in the First China International Import Expo — where Pakistan is exhibiting a wide range of products — and interact with members of China’s financial and corporate sectors.
As part of his schedule in Shanghai, he will deliver a keynote address at the inaugural session, following which he is expected to meet several other world leaders on the sidelines of the forum.
PM Khan has already made two important trips to Saudi Arabia since his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party formed a coalition government with its allies in July this year. In the most recent visit this week, he managed to secure a relief package of $6 billion from the Kingdom.
Faced with significant financial challenges, he is expected to use his upcoming excursion to China to create a greater economic space for his administration which is seeking a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) too.
The IMF has, in turn, suggested structural adjustments and sought details of Islamabad’s agreements and commitments with Beijing under the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.
Any financial relief from China is likely to be seen as helpful to PM Khan’s administration as it will reduce the scale of the country’s dependence on the IMF.

PM Khan to travel to China next month