China Pakistan Photo:VCG

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday kicked off his trip to Pakistan, where he is scheduled to attend the 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in Islamabad and pay an official visit to Pakistan from October 14 to 17, at the invitation of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan.

Premier Li's visit to Pakistan is expected to strengthen and inject new momentum into the cooperation between Beijing and Islamabad, experts said.

"This is Premier Li's first visit to Pakistan after he took office and marks an exchange of visits at the head-of-government level between the two countries within a year, which is of significance to deepening all-weather strategic cooperative partnership," Mao Ning, spokesperson from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.

Mao said China looks to working with Pakistan to enhance the traditional friendship, strengthen strategic communication, build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in a high quality way, deepen and expand cooperation across the board, ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan, accelerate the building of a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and jointly safeguard regional peace, stability and prosperity. 

Premier Li's visit is expected to further consolidate bilateral cooperation and push forward the next stage of development of CPEC, said Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University.

However, the cooperation is currently being challenged by the threat of terrorism in Pakistan, which means that ensuring the safety of Chinese personnel and projects in Pakistan will likely be discussed during this visit, especially how to coordinate both China and Pakistan's efforts in fighting terrorism, said Cui Heng, a scholar from the Shanghai-based China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation. 

When asked for expectations of the 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the SCO, Mao said Premier Li will have an in-depth exchange of view with leaders of the participating countries on implementing consensus reached at the Astana summit and advancing SCO's practical cooperation. 

Cui stated that the SCO meeting in Pakistan is expected to prioritize pragmatic cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, and people-to-people exchanges. "Security issues will also be on the agenda, as the region encompassing SCO member countries is facing increasing security threats while lacking a multilateral mechanism to address these challenges," Cui noted.