PM spells out India’s position on China
I n a recent interview to Newsweek, the Prime Minister, discussing Indo-China relations, commented, “For India, the relationship with China is important and significant.
Speaking at a press conference Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar has said that the country will engage China at the highest level of talks on several big projects in the fields of hydropower, oil refinery and steel mills as part of the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the country.
Imran Khan will arrive in Beijing on October 8 on a two-day visit to China, Pakistan’s all-weather ally, during which he would meet the country’s top leadership, including President Xi Jinping, and discuss issues of regional and bilateral significance. He will also hold talks with the top Chinese leadership to revive most of the CPEC projects that have reportedly been stalled due to various reasons, including prevailing financial crunch confronting the government and non-cooperation of the bureaucracy due to fear of the anti-corruption watchdog National Accountability Bureau.
Imran Khan’s visit to China will be his third visit since he took over as Prime Minister in August last year. The visit acquires significance as it comes days ahead of President Xi’s high-profile visit to India to take part in the Second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Mamallapuram near Chennai next week.
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Bakhtyar said Pakistan would start formal negotiations on additional projects, including a major overland LNG terminal, 7,000-megawatt Bunji hydropower project, Pakistan Steel Mills, oil refineries as well as joint ventures in businesses and science and technology, for agreements, the Dawn newspaper reported.
“All the existing projects under the CPEC portfolio have been streamlined and there is no slowdown anywhere,” the minister said in an apparent reference to recent reports that work on some projects had slowed down after Islamabad’s renewed engagements with the United States and the International Monetary Fund.
(With inputs from PTI)
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