ISLAMABAD: Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan commended the government of China for hosting a JEC meeting after a gap of 11 years.

He was addressing the 15th session of Pakistan-China Joint Economic Committee (JEC) on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. The virtual meeting was co-chaired by Ren Hongbin, Chinese vice minister of economics, and Mian Asad Hayaud Din, secretary of Economic Affairs Division.

Mr Khan expressed satisfaction on completion of 70 years of everlasting and unprecedented friendship between Pakistan and China and said the agreement for establishment of the JEC, signed in 1982, was the basis of bilateral cooperation.

He said Pakistan and China had always supported each other at every front. Pakistan was among the first country to show solidarity with China at the time of outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic as President Arif Alvi paid a visit to Beijing amid the pandemic, he said. Similarly, he added, China had been supporting Pakistan in pandemic mitigation measures from the very beginning of the pandemic.

To support Pakistan’s drive for mass vaccination, Chinese companies supplied Covid-19 vaccine on priority basis. The government of China provided over four million doses of vaccine to Pakistan free of cost.

The minister highlighted that Pakistan and China were entering the next phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in which special economic zones were being established.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2021