China and Pakistan are good neighbors, good friends, good partners and good brothers. In recent years, the two countries have maintained close high-level exchanges, steadily advanced bilateral practical cooperation, and achieved fruitful results in high-quality joint construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

As the world is undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, the strategic significance of China-Pakistan relations has become more prominent. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz said he looks forward to the two countries carrying forward their traditional friendship, strengthening exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and better benefiting the two peoples.

　"Bringing unprecedented development opportunities to Pakistan"

From trade convoys crossing the Khunjerab Pass at an average altitude of more than 4,700 meters, to cargo ships busy loading and unloading at Gwadar Port; from clean electricity converted from surging river water, to the first high-voltage direct current transmission project forming the north-south "aorta" of Pakistan's power grid... Since construction began in 2013, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has achieved fruitful results. At present, the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which has entered a new stage of high-quality development, will continue to inject momentum into Pakistan's development.

Data provided by the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan show that by the end of 2022, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor had brought a cumulative total of US$25.4 billion in direct investment to Pakistan, created 236,000 jobs, and helped Pakistan add 510 kilometers of expressways, 8,000 megawatts of electricity and 886 kilometers of the national core transmission grid.

"The Pakistan-China Economic Corridor has brought valuable investment and infrastructure renewal and improvement to Pakistan, created opportunities for advancing Pakistan's industrialization process, and promoted Pakistan's economic growth and improvement of people's livelihoods." Pakistani President Zardari said, "The Pakistan-China Economic Corridor has brought unprecedented development opportunities to Pakistan."

As a key project under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Gwadar Port completed 506,800 tons of bulk cargo throughput in the first half of 2023, showing good growth momentum. Not far from the port, the main structure of the New Gwadar International Airport project has been completed. Once put into operation, it will, together with Gwadar Port and the East Bay Expressway, form a modern three-dimensional sea-land-air transportation network, bringing new business and investment opportunities to Pakistan. Zardari said that builders from the two countries have promoted the construction of Gwadar Port to achieve considerable development, and the prospects for future cooperation are even broader. "Gwadar Port will be built into an open, world-class port, and Pakistan especially welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and build here."

"The Pakistan-China Economic Corridor has helped Pakistan transform its energy and infrastructure industries, promoted connectivity, and enabled all regions of Pakistan to share in the fruits of development and embark on a path of sustainable growth and development." Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan's Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, said he hopes that in the next stage the two countries will carry out in-depth cooperation in areas such as addressing climate change and renewable energy.

China and Pakistan will work together to promote the deepening and solid implementation of the eight major steps China supports for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, jointly build a corridor of growth, livelihood, innovation, green development and openness, and align it with Pakistan's development plans and priority areas to create an "upgraded version" of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor construction. Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong said that China and Pakistan should implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, maintain the good momentum of practical cooperation, promote high-quality development of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor construction, and work together to accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

　　"Continuously advancing Pakistan-China talent exchange and training"

In the Pakpattan area of Punjab Province in eastern Pakistan, April is a busy season for harvesting winter rapeseed. A combine harvester equipped with customized rapeseed harvesting equipment advanced steadily and finished harvesting a large field in less than a quarter of an hour. Farmers calculated that with new rapeseed varieties matched with new agricultural machinery and equipment, this year's harvest will increase significantly.

In recent years, Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. has carried out cooperation with Pakistani enterprises in areas such as the selection and promotion of rapeseed varieties and the harvesting, extraction and reuse of rapeseed residue, advancing technological upgrading across the entire industrial chain. The two sides jointly developed a rapeseed harvesting equipment module suitable for local conditions, reducing harvest loss rates and increasing farmers' incomes.

"Through cooperation with Chinese enterprises, local farmers' production efficiency has been continuously improved." Asghar Ali, head of research and development at Pakistan's Situs Seed Company, said, "Adopting a whole-industrial-chain model in Pakistan to promote high-yield oil crops can effectively promote agricultural diversification and specialization and make Pakistan's agricultural production more intelligent and efficient."

Since 1999, multiple Chinese teams have carried out hybrid rice planting research in Pakistan, breeding drought-tolerant and salt-alkali-tolerant rice varieties, and have trained a large number of local agricultural technical personnel for Pakistan, making important contributions to Pakistan's food security and export earnings.

Last March, the China-Pakistan International Joint Laboratory for Wheat Molecular Breeding held a project launch meeting. It has now bred two wheat varieties suitable for planting in northern Pakistan. Rashid, the Pakistani head of the laboratory, said that China has accumulated extensive experience in the field of molecular breeding, effectively improving the level of wheat breeding. Breeding new wheat varieties adapted to climate change is crucial to safeguarding Pakistan's food security. "One of the purposes of establishing the laboratory is to learn from China's experience, introduce new technologies into Pakistan, and continuously advance Pakistan-China talent exchange and training," Rashid said.

Since 2023, the two countries have signed protocols on the export of Pakistani cooked beef and dried chilies to China, achieved access for Pakistani fresh cherries to the Chinese market, and reached agreement on the export of Pakistani dairy products and other products to China. At the end of last year, the first batch of dried chilies from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor agricultural cooperation project was shipped for export to China; at the beginning of this year, the first batch of sesame exported to China was also successfully completed. Quality Pakistani products and eligible enterprises have entered the Chinese market, bringing high-quality products to Chinese consumers while also effectively helping local Pakistani farmers increase their incomes.

　　"Cooperation with China has driven national progress"

On May 30, China successfully launched a Pakistani multi-mission communication satellite into space using a Long March 3B carrier rocket. The multi-mission communication satellite launched this time has advanced communication technology and is expected to transform Pakistan's current digital environment, provide fast internet facilities across the country, improve people's lives, and promote e-commerce, online government services and economic development.

Shehbaz said in a statement issued through the Prime Minister's Office that day that the multi-mission communication satellite was launched at China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center, demonstrating the strong cooperation and partnership between Pakistan and China, marking a major advance in Pakistan's space and communication capabilities, showcasing Pakistan's scientific and technological strength, and proving the country's potential and bright future prospects. "It is precisely through cooperation with China that national progress has been driven, using technology to benefit the people."

In early May this year, as one of the international payloads carried on the Chang'e-6 mission, Pakistan's CubeSat successfully entered lunar orbit. The project successfully verified nanosatellite lunar orbit detection technology, explored a cooperation model for China-Pakistan lunar and deep space exploration missions, and laid the foundation for deeper cooperation between the two sides in subsequent missions.

China-Pakistan cooperation in science and technology is broad and diverse. In October 2023, the China-Pakistan Earth Science Research Center, jointly established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, was inaugurated. Since its preparation, the center has carried out a number of substantive scientific research cooperation and academic exchanges, promoted the application of a number of research results in Pakistan, and contributed to safeguarding and improving people's livelihoods in Pakistan.

China and Pakistan have tightened the bond of people-to-people affinity through exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. In 2023, as part of the "China-Pakistan Year of Tourism Exchange," the Gandhara Art Exhibition, co-hosted by China and Pakistan, opened at the Palace Museum and toured multiple places in China; from jointly excavating the Bhamala site to using new technologies for site restoration, monitoring and maintenance, scholars from the two countries have contributed different perspectives and methods in archaeological cooperation, further enhancing mutual understanding and friendship; the number of people learning Chinese in Pakistan has increased rapidly, with a total of five Confucius Institutes and two Confucius Classrooms, and the Pakistani side has said it will promote Chinese language and Chinese literature at both public and private levels to promote more stable development of relations between the two peoples...

"Different civilizations show unique charm and together become important forces driving the development of human society." Ghani-ur-Rahman, director of the Taxila Institute of Asian Civilizations in Pakistan, said that Pakistan-China people-to-people exchanges are conducive to promoting civilizational inclusiveness and further consolidating Pakistan-China friendship.