Pakistan committed to completing CPEC, supports China on core issues: Islamabad

Pakistani Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani said on Friday that Pakistan is committed to completing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and will support China over issues of its core interests.

The Senate chairman made the remarks during a funcition held in Islamabad, adding that Pakistan values relations with China as the bilateral relationship is the corner stone of Pakistan's foreign policies, Xinhua reported.

"Political transition in Pakistan will not affect Pakistan's China policy and the new government will continue working closely with China to achieve our bilateral objections," Sanjrani said at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad.

The Senate chairman said the Pakistani people appreciate China's support over Pakistan's core issues of national security and vowed his country will continue to stick to the one-China policy and support China on issues of its core interests.

He also hailed China as a model of economic growth to the low income countries in Asia, Africa and South America, adding that Pakistan appreciates and supports the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and vision of shared prosperity and win-win cooperation.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing said Pakistan is China's good neighbour, good friend, good partner and good brother, and the two sides enjoy time-tested friendship.

He said that CPEC is the major pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative and will be promoted by the two sides into a new stage of enrichment and extension. The next development of CPEC will be based on Pakistan's socio-economic priorities and public needs with bilateral consultation.

According to the ambassador, nine CPEC projects have been completed and 13 are under construction, adding that CPEC is contributing to the annual economic growth of Pakistan by 1 to 2 percentage points and has created 70,000 direct jobs for locals.