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PAKISTAN, CHINA AGREE TO UPGRADE CPEC 2.0 WITH FIVE NEW CORRIDORS
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Friday, 5 September, 2025 | 11 Rabiul Awal, 1447
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PM SHEHBAZ SHARIF, CHINESE PREMIER LI QIANG DISCUSS BILATERAL TIES, ECONOMIC COOPERATION
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Rs 20.00 | Vol XVI No 59 | 8 Pages | Lahore Edition
PAKISTAN, CHINA INK $8.5 BLN ACCORDS; PM SHEHBAZ TERMS STEP AS 'LONG MARCH OF ECONOMIC GROWTH'
BOTH LEADERS REAFFIRM SHARED RESOLVE TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN IRON-CLAD, ALL-WEATHER STRATEGIC COOPERATIVE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND PAKISTAN BEIJING
mian abrar
AKISTAN and China on Thursday, expressing satisfaction over the positive trajectory of their relations, agreed to continue working closely on the next phase of the upgraded ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC 2.0), with its five new corridors. The bilateral ties and cooperation were discussed in a meeting between Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Qiang here. During their warm and friendly meeting, the prime minister expressed his deepest gratitude to the Chinese leadership and nation for their unflinching support to Pakistan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and socio-economic development. Building on the important consensus reached between President Xi Jinping and the Prime Minister in their meeting on Tuesday (September 02, 2025), both leaders reaffirmed their shared resolve to further strengthen the iron-clad, allweather strategic cooperative partnership between Pakistan and China. The signing of the Joint Action Plan 2024-2029 was deemed an important step in this regard. Prime Minister Shehbaz congratulated the Chinese leadership on the successful hosting of the SCO Council of Heads of State Summit in Tianjin and extended his felicitations to China on the 80th anniversary of the success of the Chinese people in the War of Resistance and the World’s Anti-Fascist War.
Paying rich tribute to China’s impressive transformation under President Xi Jinping’s visionary leadership, the prime minister stated that Pakistan wanted to emulate China’s successes and build a stronger and closer PakistanChina community with a shared future. He noted that his government’s tireless reform efforts were yielding promising results, made possible through China’s strong support. He also shared Pakistan’s intent to float Panda Bonds in the Chinese capital market soon. On the economic front, the prime minister highlighted the significant contribution of the CPEC — a flagship project of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in Pakistan’s socio-
economic development in the past decade and stressed the need for early implementation of ML-I, KKH realignment and operationalization of the Gwadar Port. Emphasizing the vast potential for B2B cooperation and investment, the prime minister briefed the Chinese Premier on the B2B Investment Conference held earlier in the day, where more than 300 Pakistani and 500 Chinese companies were in attendance. He identified agriculture, mines and minerals, textiles, the industrial sector and IT as priority areas for mutually beneficial economic collaboration. The prime minister reiterated Pakistan’s support for President Xi Jinping’s
landmark initiatives to strengthen multilateralism, including the Global Governance Initiative, Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative as well as Global Civilization Initiative. Both countries would celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Pakistan-China diplomatic ties next year. The two leaders also attended the ceremony of the exchange of Memorandums of Understanding and agreements signed and announced between the two countries with regard to cooperation in the development of CPEC 2.0, science and technology, IT, media, agriculture, etc. The delegation-level talks were followed by a sumptuous luncheon, hosted by the Chinese Premier in honor of the prime minister and his delegation. PM assures to remove all hiccups as Pak, China business firms sign $8.5 bln pacts Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has assured the Chinese investors that all red-tape hiccups in investment procedures would be removed as Pakistan and China business firms signed massive $8.5 billion worth 21 memorandums of understanding in different areas. The prime minister unveiled a bold new vision for Pakistan-China economic cooperation, announcing the formal launch of “CPEC 2.0” during his keynote address at the Second PakistanChina B2B Investment Conference held in Beijing. Welcoming the high-level delegates, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described the forum as a reflection of the iron-clad brotherhood between Pakistan and China.
Rising water levels in three rivers push threat of major flooding higher MULTAN
staff report
With the rising water levels in the three rivers of Chenab, Sutlej and Ravi, heavy rains have pushed the threat of major flooding in Pakistan higher. Multan Deputy Commissioner Waseem Hamid Sindhu has said that the flood relay level in the Chenab River is continuously rising, due to which water has reached the Akbar Flood Dam and Sher Shah headworks and many villages have been submerged, said a statement from his office. The DC’s office added that he inspected the Chenab River Bridge and Sher Shah embankment yesterday during a visit, where he also received a briefing. “The situation is likely to worsen due to the joining of the Ravi River to the Chenab,” DC Sindhu was quoted as saying. “It was crossing level 414 at Greywala Chowk until late at night, which shows a rising trend.” The DC was quoted as saying that the committee is “on board” if the embankment at Head Muhammad Wala needs to be breached. “Saving human lives in populated areas from floods is the most important thing,” the DC said. The statement added that a record 400,000 people were relocated to safer areas in the district. More than half a million people have been forced to flee in the past 24 hours as the flood threat in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province rises, officials said on Thursday. The evacuations brought the total number of people displaced by the threat since last month to 1.8 million, said Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabeel Javed. He noted that mass evacuations were still continuing in the flood-hit Muzaffargarh district and other areas. The action came as India sent out its third flood alert this week following heavy monsoon rains and water releases from dams to low-lying border regions. India’s National Disaster Management Authority said the new spell of monsoon rains is expected to persist for another 24 to 48 hours, adding that floodwaters are likely to surge into the Indus river, posing a threat to areas in southern Sindh province. Muzaffargarh is among the worst-hit areas in Punjab, where floods have inundated 3,900 villages since the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers burst their banks two weeks ago, Javed said. The flooding has become substantially worse since Wednesday, said Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Multan in Punjab.