On Friday, in Beijing, President of China Xi Jinping met Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif, reported Chinese state media.
The development has come days before Pakistan presents its annual budget and applies for a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.
In May, the IMF opened discussions on the new loan after Pakistan completed a short-term $3 billion programme.Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on a 5-day visit to China to elevate all-weather bilateral ties.
On Wednesday, Sharif toured the southern high-tech city of Shenzhen and addressed the investors meeting.
During his visit, Pak PM will also meet Premier Li Qiang and other leaders. On Tuesday, Sharif said he is visiting Beijing with “serious plans” to deepen the all-weather ties with China.
He wrote that he was looking forward to his engagements with the provincial authorities, the business community, and industry giants.
“We are coming with serious plans to make our friendship become much higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the deepest ocean of the world,” Sharif said as he left for China. Pak pm is also seeking to launch the second phase of the multi-billion dollar CPEC projects in his country.
Sharif is in China from June 4 to 8 at the invitation of President Xi.
Sharif (72) embarked on his first visit to China after he took over as prime minister for the second term. In March, his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party-led coalition government assumed power.
Around the globe, Pakistan considers China as one of its most trusted friends.
According to reports, China has spent about USD 28 billion on the estimated over USD 62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC) since it was started in 2013.
India firmly opposes the CPEC. The project will link Xinjiang in China and the Gwadar port in Pakistan. It will pass via Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK).