Seminar Calls for Pak-China Strategic Partnership

On November 18, five days before the Chinese president’s visit to Pakistan, IPS held a seminar entitled “Sino-Pak Relations: Chinese President’s Visit to Pakistan” to review the importance of the visit in wake of the changing global scenario.
Mr. Akram Zaki, former Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Fasih Uddin, former Chief Economist; Mr. Zhou Rong, Chinese Scholar and Journalist; and Senator Prof. Khurshid Ahmad, Chairman IPS, addressed the seminar.
Mr. Akram Zaki appreciated China’s role in assisting Pakistan in its defense, economy and infrastructure ever since their relations started in 1956.
Commenting on the role of China in global politics, he said that China would play a significant role in the future multi-polar world and Pakistan should further improve its relations with it.
The former secretary general of foreign affairs emphasized that Pak-China strategic partnership was vital for both the countries in the context of US-India Strategic ties. He called for the transfer of these friendly relations to the future generations. Chinese Scholar, Mr. Zhou Rong, claimed, “Pakistan is now more important for china than it was in 60s and 70s”. He hoped that Pakistan would always be an important Chinese friend irrespective of the political scenarios in the country or the regional and international development.
Mr. Fasih Uddin said that Sino-Pak relations had entered a new phase and were experiencing a change from bilateralism to regionalism and long-term collaboration.
About the Pak-China trade, he suggested that the implementation mechanism of the agreements, formulation of long-term integrated planning, and new areas of cooperation needed to be explored and improved.
Summing up the session, Prof. Khurshid Ahmad cautioned that the relations between both the countries should not be dented by the maneuvers of outside players.
He called for the role of private sector to come forward and strengthen the economic relations. Prof. Khurshid argued that the current dynamics of the new world order were pointers towards a change in the global scenario where China and Pakistan could play a significant role.