Pakistan's PM to visit China

BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will pay an official visit to China from June 4 to 8, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced on Friday.

This will be the first visit to China by Shehbaz since the establishment of the new Pakistani government this year, Mao said at a daily press briefing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li, and Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, will hold meetings and talks respectively with Shehbaz, during which they are expected to have in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern, and make plans for the future development of China-Pakistan relations, Mao said.

In addition to Beijing, Shehbaz will also visit the provinces of Guangdong and Shaanxi, she added.

Noting that the two countries are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and ironclad friends, Mao said the China-Pakistan friendship has withstood the test of vicissitudes of times and remained rock-solid.

Under the guidance of the leaders of both countries, high-level exchanges between China and Pakistan have been close in recent years, bilateral pragmatic cooperation steadily advanced, and fruitful results achieved in the high-quality construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the spokesperson said, adding that the two sides maintain good communication and coordination on international and regional affairs.

She added that China looks forward to working with Pakistan to promote the bilateral all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.