Senior Chinese diplomat arrives in Pakistan on two-day visit

Mr. Yang Jiechi, Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Director of the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs of the CPC, arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday on a two-day visit, the Foreign Office said.

On arrival in Islamabad, Yang Jiechi was received by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi, Zafarudin Mahmoud, Additional Foreign Secretary Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, and other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the visit, Director Yang will hold talks with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and call on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

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Yang is accompanied by Vice Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Commerce, Vice Chairman of China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), and Deputy Secretary-General of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

As Director of the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs, Yang has a prominent role in China’s foreign relations.

He has previously served as China’s Foreign Minister from 2007-13 and State Councilor from 2013-17.

"The visit is part of the regular high-level exchanges between Pakistan and China," the FO said.

"Recently, these interactions included a virtual meeting between the Foreign Ministers on 11 May 2022; Prime Minister’s telephone call with Premier Li on 16 May 2022; and Foreign Minister’s visit to China on 21-22 May 2022."

The statement added that director Yang’s visit reflects the importance attached by Pakistan and China to further deepen their “All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership”, reaffirm mutual support on issues of each other’s core interests, enhance economic engagement, explore new avenues of bilateral cooperation for the betterment of the two peoples, advance high-quality development of CPEC, and coordinate positions on important regional and global issues of mutual interest.