BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Pakistan next week to further boost the friendly ties between the neighbouring countries.
According to official sources, the Chinese leader would sign more than two dozen memoranda of understanding (MoUs) regarding nuclear power, the Gwadar Port, the Pak-China Economic Corridor (PCEC), energy, trade and investment during his visit, which is expected around April 10.
Xi was to visit Pakistan last year during his South Asia trip to India, Sri Lankan and the Maldives but postponed it due to political unrest in the country.
Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, in an interview, said that Pakistan and China will announce more than two dozen deals when President Xi Jinping visits this year. The 3,000-kilometer economic corridor will start in China’s western region of Xinjiang and run to Gwadar, a Chinese-funded port on the Arabian Sea.
“For the first time China is going to become a strategic economic partner of Pakistan,” Iqbal, who travelled to China last month.
The corridor was first announced in July 2013, and officials from China and Pakistan are still negotiating the final details, Iqbal said. Key among them are an oil and gas pipeline, highways, railways and about 3,000 megawatts of coal, solar and wind power, which would help Pakistan end persistent blackouts that deter investors.
Pakistan also planned to train over 12,000 security personnel and form a “special division” to protect Chinese workers on the corridor.
