ISLAMABAD: Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang will visit Pakistan this week for the Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue, the foreign office said on Wednesday.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement has seen longtime ally Beijing pledge over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, central to China’s wider Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop land and sea trade routes in Asia and beyond.
Beijing has also provided help to Islamabad as it faces an acute balance of payments crisis, with refinancing of $1.8 billion credited earlier this year to Pakistan's central bank.
CPEC has come in for criticism from some western countries, particularly the United States, which says that the projects under it are not sufficiently transparent and will saddle Pakistan with the burden of expensive Chinese loans.
Both China and Pakistan have continuously downplayed such concerns over the years. Recent attacks on Chinese interests by militants have also raised concerns about the future of the projects.
"At the invitation of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, China’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister H.E. Qin Gang would pay an official visit to Pakistan on 5 and 6 May 2023," the foreign office said. "This would be his first official visit to Pakistan since assuming office."
Bhutto Zardari and Qin will co-chair the fourth round of the Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue, the statement said.
"The Strategic Dialogue is a structured mechanism that reviews bilateral cooperation in key areas," the foreign office said. "The two sides will reaffirm the abiding vitality of the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership; develop a roadmap for multidimensional cooperation between Pakistan and China; and discuss the evolving regional and global landscape."
The third round of the Pakistan-China Strategic Dialogue took place in July 2021 in Chengdu, China.
