Symposium held in Islamabad on China-Pakistan cooperation to drive modernization

Islamabad: The Hong Ting Forum themed “Understanding China-Pakistan All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership and Chinese-style Modernization Development Path” has been held in Pakistan’s federal capital city of Islamabad.

The symposium held on Friday drew about 100 participants, including diplomats, scholars, and media representatives. It was co-convened by Xinhua News Agency and the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), an Islamabad-based think tank.

Speaking at the event, Shi Yuanqiang, minister of Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, said that China is ready to share development opportunities with the rest of the world.

“China and Pakistan are good neighbors and all-weather strategic cooperative partners, and mutually beneficial cooperation benefits both countries,” he added.

Masood Khalid, former Pakistani ambassador to China, said the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee has adopted a grand strategic blueprint for Chinese-style modernization.

“Pakistan greatly value our time-tested relationship with China, and both countries are tied in a relationship which is unbreakable,” Khalid said, adding that Pakistan should learn from the development model of Chinese-style modernization to embark on the path of self-reliance and better benefit both nations and regional development.

Mudassar Iqbal, deputy director of Associated Press of Pakistan, said that China’s approach to modernization is not only benefiting its own people but also contributing to global development.

“The ironclad friendship between Pakistan and China will enable the two countries to stand and move forward side by side and forge a future of shared prosperity and unshakable friendship,” he added.

Hassan Daud Butt, senior advisor at the China Study Center of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, an Islamabad-based think tank, said that Pakistan should fully utilize the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to expand cooperation with China in various fields such as industry, agriculture, science and technology, digital economy, green energy and technological innovation.

On the occasion, Khalid Mahmood, chairman of the ISSI Board of Governors, said efforts should be stepped up by the media and think tanks of Pakistan and China to contribute to deepening the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.