Zardaris China visit cements nuclear deal
July 12, 2010
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari flew back home on Sunday at the conclusion of a five-day visit to China during which he held talks with his counterpart Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and touched base with leaders of the corporate world.
The top-level talks and meetings with business and energy leaders during the visit focused on joint economic projects, promoting regional connectivity, harnessing new sources of energy, fighting militancy and taking measures for enhancing people-to-people contacts.
The presidents spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that on the eve of Asif Zardaris visit that China reaffirmed that it will go ahead with the installation of two nuclear reactors in Pakistan as the agreement goes along well with international non-proliferation obligations of China and Pakistan.
President Zardari responded by asserting that the two countries decision to honour the agreement within the framework of their obligations towards non-proliferation was a demonstration of the strength of their relationship.
He said during the visit, the fifth undertaken by the president since assuming office, China pledged to provide a 50-million-yuan grant to Pakistan for new projects. Besides the two countries signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation and four MoUs in the fields of health, geological survey, and agriculture.
Instruments of ratification were also exchanged as a follow-up of the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and an MoU of cooperation between the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) and China Radio International for Urdu service broadcasts in selected Pakistani cities.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 12th, 2010.
