Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday afternoon that China had saved Pakistan from bankruptcy in the recent years.
Addressing a public gathering here, FM Qureshi recalled that Pakistani economy was very down in 2018 but Pakistan sought help from China and other friends to control the damage.
“China helped us and saved us from bankruptcy. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate also played the same role,” he acknowledged.
He maintained that that the government had to take some difficult decisions to deal with the tough circumstances.
Qureshi reminded that the country was facing a deficit of $ 20 billion. “We improved the situation with successful economic policies,” he added.
Pakistan, he contended, successfully handled coronavirus situation in the country. “The whole world is acknowledging steps taken by the government of Pakistan to deal with the pandemic,” he mentioned.
FM Qureshi told the audience that Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit China early next month to attend the inauguration of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
He underlined that the PM will hold talks with the Chinese leadership and the visit was expected to enhance the cooperation further.
Separately, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Khalid Mansoor said that the Prime Minister, ahead of his China visit, wanted to remove all bottlenecks for investors.
He remarked that the CPEC Authority was working to remove bottlenecks which may emerge during the execution of CPEC projects as the Prime Minister had ordered the removal of 37 regulations for a one window operation for foreign investors.
The over $ 60 billion CPEC, connecting China’s resource-rich Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port in Balochistan, is regarded as the flagship project of the multi-billion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
