Dar and Chinese envoy review CPEC progress in Islamabad

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar met Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong in Islamabad on Sunday to review progress on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Foreign Office said, in a meeting that also covered trade, investment and regional developments.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dar said the "all-weather strategic cooperative partnership" between the two countries continued to expand, and cited cooperation under CPEC alongside connectivity, trade and investment, agricultural modernisation and people-to-people exchanges.

The deputy prime minister stressed the importance of sustained high-level exchanges to take forward what the statement called the Pakistan-China community of a shared future in the new era.

Business Recorder reported that the meeting also gave the two sides an opportunity to exchange views on regional developments, with both stressing the importance of dialogue and diplomacy for sustainable peace and stability in the region. Neither the Foreign Office statement nor the reports said which regional issues were discussed.

Dawn reported that Dar praised the expansion of bilateral ties during the meeting. The Express Tribune and Pakistan Today also carried the meeting, focusing on CPEC progress.

The readout did not name individual CPEC projects, give figures for Chinese investment, or announce any new agreements, timelines or visits. It did not say how long the meeting lasted or who else attended, and the Foreign Office released no documentation beyond the statement.

Pakistan and China describe their relationship as an "all-weather strategic cooperative partnership". CPEC (the corridor of road, rail, port and energy projects running from Gwadar in Balochistan to the Chinese border through Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) is its centrepiece, and the corridor's second phase, including industrial cooperation and agricultural modernisation, has been a recurring subject of such meetings.

Sunday's meeting is the latest in a series of exchanges between Dar and the Chinese ambassador. The Foreign Office did not say whether further high-level visits were being planned.