Chinese president accorded rousing welcome

ISLAMABAD: The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, was accorded an unprecedented reception on arrival in Pakistan on Monday here.
President Xi was accompanied by First Lady Peng Liyuan. They were received by President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with First Lady Begum Kulsoom Nawaz at the Nur Khan Airbase. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, members of the federal cabinet, legislatures and the services chiefs were also present on the occasion.
A group of JF-17 fighter aircraft, the result of Pakistan-China defence collaboration, escorted the special plane of the Chinese president as it entered Pakistan’s air space and presented salute to the visiting dignitary upon his arrival. Maryam Nawaz is acting as the Lady in Waiting for the Chinese First Lady during her two-day stay in Pakistan.
President Xi was presented a guard of honour by a smartly turned-out contingent of the armed forces, along with a 21-gun salute. The Chinese president and first lady were presented bouquets and flower petals were showered on them. Schoolchildren dressed in Pakistani and Chinese traditional dresses sang a Chinese national song.
The Chinese president is accompanied by a large delegation comprising senior ministers, high-level functionaries of the Communist Party and senior government officials. CEOs from a wide spectrum of business houses of China are also included in the delegation.
Pakistan and China are celebrating 2015 as the ‘Year of Friendly Exchanges’ and the visit of Chinese president is the most important event of this year.The delegation-level talks were attended by Wang Huning, Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee; Li Zhanshu, Member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee; Yang Jiechi, State Councilor, Wang Yi, Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Xu Shaoshi, Chairman NDRC, Gao Hucheng, Chinese Minister for Commerce, Liu He, Chief of Finance and Economic Leading Group, and Sun Weidong, Chinese Ambassador in Islamabad, from the Chinese side. From the Pakistan side, the participants included Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister; Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to PM, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Finance, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Water and Power and Defence, Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Minister for Commerce, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum, Syed Tariq Fatemi, SAPM, Javed Aslam, Secretary to PM, Dr Syed Asif Saeed Kirmani, Political Secretary to the PM, Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Secretary Foreign Affairs, and Masood Khalid, Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, along with other senior government officials.
In the evening, the prime minister hosted a banquet in the honour of the Chinese president and his wife which was attended by federal ministers, services chiefs and senior government officials.
The banquet, followed by a cultural show including performances by a military band and traditional dances, was also attended by former president Asif Ali Zardari, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik, Leader of theOpposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah and PML-Q leader Mushahid Hussain Sayed. The Chinese president also planted a sapling at the PM House.