Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met with China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday as he represented Pakistan in a joint call of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.
The SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping whose members include China, Russia, Pakistan, India, and Iran. The group’s foreign ministers meet as a precursor to the annual summit of its leaders, which will be hosted by China this autumn in Tianjin.
In a post on X today, Dar said he was “delighted” to meet with Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing before the SCO meeting and conveyed the “warm greetings of the leadership, government and people of Pakistan”.
“As iron-clad brothers and all-weather strategic cooperative partners, we remain committed to deepening Pak-China enduring friendship and advancing shared regional goals,” he posted on X.
The Chinese president, welcoming the heads of delegations, underlined the “salience of regional cooperation” under the ambit of the SCO, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa).
Shortly later, Dar arrived in Tianjin along with other foreign ministers to lead Pakistan’s delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting, according to Mofa.
The deputy premier arrived in Beijing last night, where he was received at the airport by Ambassador Yu Hong and other senior officials of the Asian Affairs department of China’s Mofa, as well as Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Khalil ur Rehman Hashmi.
Meetings with SCO members’ ministers
Dar also met with the foreign ministers of various SCO member states on the sidelines of the joint call on Xi.
“Always good to exchange views for strengthening regional understanding and cooperation in such a challenging time,” he said on X about his meeting with his Iran, Uzbekistan and Belarus counterparts.
In separate meetings with Kazakhistan FM Murat Nurtleu and Kyrgyzstan’s Zheenbek Moldokanovic, Dar and the ministers reaffirmed a commitment to the enhancement of positive bilateral ties and expanding collaboration across areas of interest.
According to an earlier statement from the Mofa, Dar is set to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the SCO member states during his visit to China.
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