BEIJING, Oct 18 (APP): Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Wednesday joined world leaders in China as the Third Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation kicked off here in Beijing.
Chinese President Xi opened the Forum with representatives from about 140 nations in attendance.
Besides PM Kakar, the dignitaries at the forum included Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
In his opening speech, President Xi highlighted the concept of working with all participants to draw a new blueprint for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
He said China looks forward to strengthening ties, engaging in dialogues, forging new partnerships, and promoting regional connectivity for a brighter future.
“The BRF is about planning together, building together and benefiting together,” he said, adding that the project had established a new framework for international cooperation.
He termed BRF a “humanity’s joint pursuit of development for all”, which he said extended from Eurasia to Africa and Latin America. He said the project had ensured flow of goods, capital, technology and human resources.
Xi said BRF would inject new impetus to the global economy and mentioned that 20 multilateral cooperation platforms had been established under the BRF besides a large number of other significant projects.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said China had proved its mettle during the last 10 years in implementation of its project of global connectivity. He said Russia supported President Xi’s vision that aimed at ensuring regional connectivity and benefiting nations across the globe.
After the BRF event, PM Kakar will participate in the high-level forum on ‘Connectivity in an Open Global Economy’ and also address the occasion.
In the afternoon, he will meet his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang and witness the signing of several memorandums of understanding.
The other official engagements of the prime minister include meeting with Secretary of Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline, Li Xi. He will also interact with the heads of Chinese business companies.
