Qureshi leaves for China today

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will pay a one-day visit to China on Thursday, Pakistani media has reported.

A Foreign Office official confirmed the trip and said an official statement will be issued today (Wednesday).

Pakistan and China are longtime allies and partners in the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which has seen Beijing pledge over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, central to China’s wider Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop land and sea trade routes in Asia and beyond.

China also gave Pakistan a one billion dollar loan last month to pay off part of a three billion dollar loan taken from the Saudi government in 2018. Another tranche of the Saudi payment is due at the end of the month. “Shah Mehmood Qureshi will request the Chinese government to provide one billion dollars during his visit to China to ensure repayment of loans by August 31,” Pakistan’s The Nation newspaper reported. “He will hold meetings with his Chinese counterpart and senior leadership while important decisions will be taken regarding the visit of the Chinese president to Pakistan,” the paper said.

Other Pakistani media outlets reported that Qureshi was expected to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping during the trip.