ISLAMABAD: Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is set to visit Pakistan on May 6 for his first official trip since assuming office. According to local media reports, Gang will land in Islamabad on May 5 after attending the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting 2023 in the Indian state of Goa.
He is expected to hold strategic talks with Pakistani officials during his visit.
Pakistan and China are also expected to hold a trilateral summit with Afghanistan to discuss the regional situation. The meeting will take place in Islamabad and will be attended by Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
A UN Security Council committee recently agreed to allow Afghan foreign minister Muttaqi to travel to Pakistan next week for a meeting with the foreign ministers of China and Pakistan.
Pakistani and Chinese officials welcome Afghanistan into CPEC project
Pakistani and Chinese officials have previously expressed their support for welcoming Taliban-led Afghanistan into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Afghanistan serves as a key geographical trade and transit route between Central Asia and South Asia and holds billions of dollars in untapped mineral resources. The Taliban forces seized power in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war.
In addition to the trilateral meeting, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres started a two-day meeting in Doha on May 2 with special envoys on Afghanistan from various countries.
The summit aims “to achieve a common understanding within the global community on how to engage with the Taliban,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The closed-door meeting will discuss key issues such as human rights, inclusive governance, countering terrorism and drug trafficking.
Participating countries include China, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Britain, the United States, the European Union, Uzbekistan, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The Afghan Taliban administration was not invited to the Doha summit.
