CIDCA chairman meets with Pakistani minister of planning, development and special initiatives

Luo Zhaohui, chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), met with Ahsan Iqbal, minister of planning, development and special initiatives of Pakistan, on July 13.

Iqbal was in China to attend the second high-level conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development.

Luo thanked Iqbal for attending the conference for the second year running, as well as Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari for his video message to the gathering. Noting that Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif visited China in June this year and reached consensus on a number of important issues with Chinese leaders, Luo said that the CIDCA is ready to work with the Pakistani side to implement the consensus, advance Belt and Road cooperation, implement the Global Development Initiative, continue to deepen China-Pakistan cooperation on development, and jointly build the "upgraded version" of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Iqbal congratulated China on the successful holding of the conference, and thanked Chinese long-term support and assistance to Pakistan's socioeconomic development and improvement in people’s standard of living. He said that Pakistan will strengthen cooperation with China in various fields under the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the GDI, ensure the safety of Chinese personnel and projects in Pakistan, and jointly accelerate the building of a closer Pakistan-China community with a shared future in the new era.

CIDCA Vice-Chairman Yang Weiqun, Director-General of the First Department of Regional Affairs Shou Hailong and Acting Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation Li Ming, as well as Pakistani Ambassador to China Khalil Hashmi also attended the meeting.