ISLAMABAD – Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang will embark on Pakistan visit on May 5 as both sides will engage in strategic talks.
Quoting well-informed diplomatic sources, several media reports suggest that Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang will reach Islamabad on his maiden visit soon after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers’ meeting in India.
During his first-ever visit to Pakistan, Mr Gang is slated to hold strategic talks while iron brothers are likely to hold crucial meetings with Afghanistan’s interim foreign minister and other officials to discuss the regional situation.
These developments come on the heels of reports suggesting that the United Nations Security Council committee gave nod to the Taliban administration’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to travel to Pakistan. Afghan minister is currently subjected to a travel ban under Security Council sanctions.
It happened as Pakistan’s mission called for an exemption for Muttaqi to travel between May 6-9 for meeting with the foreign ministers of neighboring nations. The agenda of the tri-nation meeting was initially not shared.
Earlier, Pakistan and China pushed to extend the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to Afghanistan as the war-torn nation sits as a crucial geographical trade and transit route in Asia and has vast mineral resources.
Extension of CPEC to Afghanistan: Prospect and Opportunities | By Mir Sher Baz Khetran
