Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that he hoped to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping along with other world leaders when he arrived in China to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also landed on his first visit after a seven -year gap.
The SCO Summit, which will be held in the port city of Northern Tianjin on Sunday and Monday, will bring together more than 20 world leaders in a powerful sample of solidarity of the Global South, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The SCO includes China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzista, Tayikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. Other 16 countries are affiliated as observers or “dialogue partners.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz arrived in Tianjin with the vice president Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ishaq Dar, and the Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar.
When qualifying his “historical” visit, Prime Minister Shehbaz said in X today: “I hope to meet its president Xi Jinping and other world leaders to build our bilateral ties with China, our strategic cooperative partner, all climate, as well as with other key countries in the region of the region of the region of the region of the region of the region […]”
The prime minister expressed his goal of “improving regional cooperation, strengthening multilateralism and advancing in shared objectives for peace and prosperity.”
According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FO) today, the Prime Minister leads a delegation of Pakistan to participate in the Summit of the State Chiefs of State (CHS) of the OCS from August 31 to September 1.
“The SCO Chs summit will bring together the heads of State and the Government of the OCS Member States, including Pakistan, Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirguistán, Russia, Tayikistan and Uzbekistan,” reads the statement.
The leaders of Mongolia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkiye, Egypt, Maldives, Myanmar and others, as well as the United Nations Chief and Heads of several regional and international organizations, will also attend as part of the expanded format.
“At the SCO CHS Summit, Prime Minister Sharif will present Pakistan’s perspectives on regional and global pressures, highlighting strategies to strengthen the role of the SCO in the promotion of regional cooperation and stability,” Fo said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz is scheduled to reaffirm Pakistan’s commitment to promote multilateralism, improve regional security and advance sustainable development, said Fo. It is also expected to have bilateral meetings with other OCS leaders and invited members to “strengthen diplomatic relations.”
On the commitments in China, the FO said that the prime minister would hold meetings with President XI and Prime Minister Li Qiang “during which multifaceted dimensions of the Bilateral Cooperation of Pakistan-China would be discussed.”
“It would also attend the military parade with President XI and other world leaders who stop in Beijing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the world’s anti -fascist war,” added the FO.
Prime Minister Shehbaz, according to the statement, “would interact with the reputed Chinese businessmen and corporate executives to discuss the bilateral ties of trade, economic and investment.” He would also go to a Pakistan-China B2B investment conference in Beijing.
The statement stressed that the visit was part of the exchanges at the leadership level between the two countries.
“The importance attached by the two countries is manifested to further deepen their strategic cooperative association of every climate, to reaffirm support in respective central interests, Advanced Phase II of CPEC and maintain regular communication on important regional and global developments,” said Fo.
Before the participation of Pakistan in the summit, FM Dar also published in X, saying: “The strategic association for every climate of Pakistan with China is anchored in trust and strategic alignment. We value the leadership and initiatives of President XI as the Belt and Road, and the global initiatives of development, security and civilization, which continue to transform the economies and regional integration.”
He added: “The SCO has become a fundamental European platform, advancing cooperation in security, commerce, energy, connectivity and culture under the principles of mutual trust and shared development.”
In today’s multipolar world, said FM Dar, the role of ONC in the promotion of multilateralism, stability and inclusive growth is more vital than ever.
The leaders of Asia Central, Middle East, Asia del Sur and Southeast Asia have been invited to the 25th Head of State of the State Council.
Last week, the government said that the visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz to China will mark the formal launch of the second phase of the Chinese-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC-II), focused on industrial cooperation, after a delay of approximately five years.
“The next visit of the Prime Minister will mark the formal launch of phase II CPEC, and both parties are expected to establish clear priorities and agree the tangible and measurable results,” said an official announcement, citing Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, focal person in the multimillion -dollar bilateral initiative.
In July, the two countries decided to form technical work groups to explore and implement projects focused on the development of high -performance cotton seeds, advanced water savings irrigation technologies and modern agriculture techniques.
Modi visit after 7 years of rest
Modi also arrived in Tianjin on his first visit to China since 2018, arriving immediately after a trip to Japan, which promised to invest $ 68 billion in India.
China and India, the two most populated nations in the world, are intense rivals that compete for the influence in southern Asia and fought against a deadly border clash in 2020.
A thaw began last October when Modi met with President XI for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.
XI began welcoming leaders, including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, must also arrive in Tianjin before the summit.
China and Russia have used the SCO, sometimes promoted as a counter of the NATO military alliance dominated by Western, to deepen ties with the states of Central Asia.
Other leaders, including Iranian and Turkish presidents Masoud Peeshkian and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will also attend the largest meeting in the block since its foundation in 2001.
Multiple bilateral meetings are expected to be held outside the summit.
The Kremlin said Friday that Putin will discuss the Ukraine conflict with Erdogan on Monday.
Turkiye has organized three rounds of peace conversations between Russia and Ukraine this year that have failed to break the dead point on how to finish the conflict, activated when Moscow launched its invasion of its neighboring pro -European in February 2022.
Putin will also meet with his Iranian counterpart Pezeshkian to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program on Monday, a meeting that occurs when Iran faces a new Western pressure.
Great Britain, France and Germany, known as E3, triggered a “Snapback” mechanism on Thursday to restore UN sanctions against Iran for not complying with the commitments assumed in a 2015 agreement on its nuclear program.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that the reimposition of sanctions against Iran risked “irreparable consequences.”
Tehran and Moscow have been reinforcing political, military and economic ties during the last decade when Russia moved away from the West.
The relations between them approached even more after Russia launched their offensive against Ukraine.
