Imran vows to finish CPEC, hails friendship with China

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said friendship with China is a cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy, even as the two countries agreed to invite third country investors to join the $60-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said friendship with China is a cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy, even as the two countries agreed to invite third country investors to join the $60-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Besides adding social sector and regional development schemes to CPEC, the two sides also agreed to speed up the implementation of the transit corridor and extend it towards Afghanistan.

During a meeting with visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Sunday, Khan reiterated his government’s commitment to implementing the CPEC. This was Khan’s first high-level meeting with the Chinese leadership since he assumed office. Wang conveyed the Chinese leadership’s desire to work with the Pakistan government to enhance the bilateral strategic partnership and also underscored significance of CPEC for “mutual benefit of people of both countries”. In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a news briefing on Monday that two sides agreed to extend CPEC towards the west to enable more people to benefit from it.