"Iron friends" China and Pakistan inked 20 agreements on Saturday amounting to Chinese investment reportedly worth about US $46 billion, as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held wide-ranging talks with the Chinese leadership in Beijing.
Sharif, who is in Beijing to take part in the neighbourhood leaders conference being organised by China on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting, held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
Terming China and Pakistan as "iron friends", Xi, who cancelled his to visit to Islamabad during his South Asia tour in September due to tense confrontation between the government and the opposition parties in Islamabad, told Sharif that the two countries will continue to support each other and strengthen cooperation.
"Iron friends" is a term frequently used in China to mean trustworthy friends whose friendship is as solid as iron.
Some Chinese netizens have coined the phrase of "Iron Paks" to refer to Pakistanis, Xi was quoted as telling Sharif.
Besides issues related to China's concerns over terrorist attacks in Xinjiang with militants infiltration from across the border in Pakistan, the two leaders discussed the emerging situation in Afghanistan in view of the US plans to pullout its troops from the war-torn country, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
China looks to play a bigger role in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the US troops withdrawal.
Sharif said Pakistan will strengthen cooperation with China in building infrastructure and crackdown on terrorist forces such as the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which is blamed for terrorist attacks in Xinjiang bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK). China has been pressing Pakistan to crackdown on ETIM militants.
During Sharif's meeting with Li, the two sides signed 20 agreements, the report said.
The agreements signed during Sharif's visit according to Pakistan's Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal are worth about US $46 billion. Of this, US $35 billion worth of agreements are related to energy development projects to boost power in Pakistan and the rest to develop the infrastructure projects, he told Radio Pakistan.
"I am going to China to save my people from one more load-shedding-ridden summer," Sharif said ahead of his departure to China.
The agreements signed on Saturday include solar power production at Quaid-e Azam Solar Park, easy loan for laying optic fibre cables between the two countries, mining of 65,00,000 metric tonnes of coal in Block-2 of Thar, 870 MW Suki Kinari Hydropower project, 1320 MW coal power project in Sahiwal, and an MoU for 100 MW Jhimpir wind power project.
An agreement was also signed to establish an Industrial Park in Faisalabad. The two countries also inked agreement for economic and technical cooperation.
The agreements will help promote cooperation between the two countries in the fields of energy, infrastructure under the Economic Corridor Project and other sectors.
China and Pakistan also vowed to advance joint efforts to build a bilateral economic corridor as the two neighbours signed an outline of the long-term plan on the project.
Chinese Premier Li and Sharif witnessed the signing of the outline after their meeting in Beijing.
Calling the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor a "flagship" project to strengthen China's connectivity with neighboring countries, Li said the initiative set the strategic framework for pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.
The two nations should facilitate the development of Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan, strengthen cooperation in energy and electricity projects and well plan industrial parks along the corridor, he said.
While the two countries gave a big projection to the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to be laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), Chinese officials have been expressing concern over its progress in view of rising tide of terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
India has also expressed its concern to China over the corridor connecting Xinjiang and Gwader as it goes through PoK.
In his meeting with Xi, Sharif pledged his country will firmly back China's stance on all major issues, especially on those involving China's core interests, describing the strategic cooperation with China a cornerstone for Pakistan's diplomatic policies.
He said the agreements signed on Saturday will help Pakistan solve energy problems and sustain economic growth.
He also said people of people Pakistan earnestly look forward to a state visit by Xi, just like "family relatives calling upon each other," he told Xi on which the Chinese President said he would try to go there as soon as possible.
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