Pakistan, China expands bilateral cooperation in various fields: Ambassador Naghmana Hashmi

Islamabad: Pakistan and China have deepened their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and, on the premise of mutual benefit and win-win, expanded bilateral cooperation in various fields in recent years, Pakistan Ambassador to China, Naghmana Hashmi said.

Both the countries have signed a number of bilateral cooperation agreements to deepen cooperation in trade, infrastructure, industry and culture, and formulate various cooperation mechanisms to ensure that the cooperation is implemented.

“I am glad to see that the cooperation between the two countries has achieved positive results of mutual benefit,” she told Xinhuanet in an interview.
She said, thanks to the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, Pakistan has successfully built a solid and solid infrastructure network, which provides a strong support for Pakistan’s economic growth and provides a guarantee for coping with the energy shortage problem that constrains economic development.

The two countries hope to further expand cooperation areas on the basis of existing cooperation achievements. The two sides successfully signed the second phase of the “Pakistan-China Free Trade Agreement”, which created new opportunities for the promotion of bilateral trade between the two countries.

To a question regarding fight against coronavirus, she said, Pakistan hopes to join forces with China to fight the new coronavirus epidemic. Chinese public organizations, state agencies and enterprises actively responded to our request and donated a lot of key materials and medical equipment to us, which effectively supported Pakistan’s fight against the epidemic.

The Pakistani government and people highly appreciate the friendliness and warmth shown by Chinese friends. In the face of adversity, China’s aid to Pakistan once again proves that Pakistan-China friendship is unbreakable and rock-solid.
Ambassador Hashmi said, the new corona pneumonia epidemic is the biggest challenge facing the world since World War II. This crisis may be a heavy blow to global economic growth, regional integration and globalization.

I am very happy to see the resilience of the Chinese economy in the crisis of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic. China is one of the first countries in the world to control the domestic epidemic situation and has won precious time for focusing on future economic growth,she added.
She expressed the confidence that the revitalization of the Chinese economy will inject new impetus into the global economic recovery. After successfully repelling the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, the global economy will recover and China will undoubtedly play an important role.

On China’s achievements in the field of poverty alleviation, she said, since China’s reform and opening up in 1978, China has successfully lifted more than 800 million poor people out of poverty, which is the most profound impact on the improvement of the well-being of all mankind.
For developing countries such as Pakistan, the Chinese model is worthy of reference. This has inspired us to show that poverty is not inborn, and as long as we make unremitting efforts, we will definitely eradicate poverty, she added.

Ambassador Hashmi said, 2020 is the year when China will complete the construction of a moderately prosperous society and the 13th Five-Year Plan , which is of great significance to China.

China has achieved important results in the fields of poverty alleviation, social and economic development, government governance and artificial intelligence. China is leading the world in mitigating the effects of climate change and exploring cutting-edge technologies in aerospace and medical science.

Pakistan is pleased with China’s extraordinary achievements and draws inspiration and energy from it. The two governments have launched a series of cooperation projects to share Chinese experience.

Pakistan particularly hopes to learn from China its experience in poverty alleviation and development, agricultural development, industrial cooperation, disease prevention and control, tourism development and anti-corruption, she said.

About cooperation in field of science and technology, she said, the rapid development of 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data is bound to profoundly change the global economic and social form and the international political landscape.

Today, Huawei, ZTE, Tencent and other Chinese information and communication industry giants have become leading providers of information and communication technologies and smart devices. These companies have explored cutting-edge technology, brought changes to people’s lives, and created more comfortable and convenient living conditions.

She informed, Pakistan is focusing on expanding transportation and communications infrastructure and improving the investment environment.
We have established a number of IT-based information technology industrial parks, and plan to build more such parks in the future. Pakistan has established contacts with many Chinese IT companies long ago, and these companies have made important contributions to the construction of Pakistan’s information and communication infrastructure.

In March this year, during President Arif Alvi’s visit to China, Pakistan and China signed a memorandum of understanding, and the two sides agreed to establish a joint working group on science and technology.

We are preparing to put forward more proposals to deepen scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries, hoping to obtain investment and support from China,she added.
To yet another question about a narrow approach of politicizing and stigmatizing the epidemic, she said, We have witnessed the sinister acts of some countries in the international community blaming China unfounded and discrediting China’s contribution to the fight against epidemics.
We oppose these evil attempts to politicize the epidemic crisis and maliciously discredit certain countries or nations with viruses. We should actively take innovative measures to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.

Therefore, we need to re-examine and reflect on our previous views on global public health, globalization, environmental protection, and economic issues, and change our thinking based on new realities to benefit all mankind.

She said, although, this is a huge crisis, it will strengthen our determination to support multilateralism and enable world leaders to completely abandon isolationism with the necessary sobriety and courage. Work together, strengthen our belief, and build a prosperous future for everyone.