This year marks the first year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan 2021-25; Progress on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor going well; Gwadar is being developed, some projects started functioning
Special Report
KARACHI: Li Bijian, Consul General of China in Karachi met with a 7-member delegation of Karachi Editors Club (KEC) at the Consulate. Li Bijian introduced China’s political and economic situation and said that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and is the first year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), says a press release issued here Friday.
He said China has realized the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty.
Li Bijian exchanged views with KEC members on the bilateral relations between China and Pakistan. Li said this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. The bilateral ties have developed into an outstanding model of relations between countries with different social and political systems, histories and cultures over the past seven decades. The all-whether strategic cooperative partnership has been strengthened in the right direction and in all respects, he added.
Li Bijian introduced the implementation of CPEC and said that despite the impact of COVID-19, CPEC projects are steadily advancing and have achieved phased results. He said Seaport in Gwadar, China-Pakistan Gwadar Faqeer Middle School and the vocational training institute have been put into use. The constructions on the East Bay Expressway, the 150-bed Friendship Hospital and the New International Airport are working in full swing, and shall be put into operation soon, he disclosed.
He told the KEC members that at present, the first phase of the CPEC project has been completed while for the second phase, CPEC will focus more on cooperation in industries, livelihood, agriculture, and science and technology cooperation. He said China stands ready to work together with the Pakistani side to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders and strive to turn CPEC into a demonstration project of high-quality BRI cooperation and deliver more benefits to peoples in the two countries and the region.
Regarding the people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between China and Pakistan, Li Bijian said people-to-people exchanges are of great significance to China-Pakistan relations. Academic, educational, scientific and technological exchanges are an important part of the bilateral people-to-people exchanges.
He said that that in a bid to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan, the two sides have organized a series of people-to-people exchange activities and established multiple people-to-people exchange mechanisms, which consolidated the foundation of public opinion on both sides.
He said the Confucius Institutes have been functioning well and educating and fostering a large number of talents for Pakistan, he said adding that the Confucius Institute at University of Karachi (CIUK) has become the largest Chinese language center in Pakistan with 7000 registered students and its teaching sites at 6 prestigious universities and institutes in Karachi. CIUK also established an internship base at Bank of China Karachi Branch to create more internship opportunities for Pakistani students. Sichuan Normal University and University of Karachi agreed to launch the split 2+2 undergraduate programme in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages, he added.
While exchanging views with KEC members on the regional issues, Li Bijian said China is committed to the path of peaceful development. He said China is striving hard to build a community?with a shared future for mankind with all regional countries and will always be the advocate of world peace, contributor to global development and defender of international order.
He said China is ready to cooperate with all countries in the region to realize the aspiration of common development and play a constructive role in regional peace, stability and development.