Senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi arrives on two-day visit

Islamabad: Member of the Politburo of Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Yang Jiechi arrived here Wednesday on a two-day visit to meet leadership and discuss bilateral ties.

Yang Jiechi, who is also Director of the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs of the CPC will hold talks with the foreign minister and call on the prime minister, the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement.

Director Yang Jiechi will be 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 Jiechi 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.

Recently, these interactions included virtual meeting between the foreign ministers on May 11, 2022; prime minister’s telephone call with Premier Li on May 16, 2022; and foreign minister’s visit to China on May 21-22, 2022.

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.

It also reflects the two countries’ commitment to 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.