Pakistan and China are "two brothers" who have nurtured the evergreen tree of mutual friendship over the years, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said today as he congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping on the 71st anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two nations.
Shehbaz Sharif also paid tributes to the leaders and people of both the countries, who made efforts to transform the friendship into a cooperative strategic partnership and an iron bond.
"China and Pakistan are the names of two brothers," he said, adding that the "leadership and peoples of the two countries have nurtured this evergreen tree of friendship over the past 71 years".
Shehbaz Sharif said that no untoward incident, storm in global politics or jealousy could put a dent in the bond.
Asserting that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) provides a strong foundation to economic cooperation, poverty alleviation, and connectivity not only for the two countries but for other countries of the region as well, Shehbaz Sharif said the "project is a symbol and guarantee of bright future of the next generations".
He resolved to take the economic bond, cooperation, and mutual trust of the two countries to new heights.
The ambitious USD 60 billion CPEC is a 3,000-km long route of infrastructure projects connecting China's northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Gwadar Port in the western Pakistan province of Balochistan. India has expressed its concerns to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Paying tributes to the three Chinese scholars killed in the terrorist attack at the Karachi University last month, Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan's firm resolve to hold investigation into the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.
To mark the 71st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has extended a special invitation to his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to visit China from Saturday and review bilateral relations.
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