BEIJING, March 12 (APP):Pakistan Ambassador to China Masood Khalid said on Monday that since the signing of China-Pakistan Free Zone Trade Agreement in 2007 and the launch of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2013, the bilateral trade volume and investment between China and Pakistan was soaring.

“Currently, China was Pakistan’s largest trade partner and foreign investment country,” he said in an interview on the occasion of Chinese “two sessions”.

Ambassador Khalid said that Pakistan has benefited from both China’s economic development and “One Belt and One Road” initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping for building a community of shared future.

Pakistan’s 1320 megawatt Sahiwal and 660 megawatt Qasim port coal-fired power plants had been completed; the Peshawar-Karachi highway, the updating project of Karakoram Highway, and Lahore Orange Line were also in the final stage, he said and added, “Considerable achievements can be seen in these China-Pakistan cooperative projects.”

Ambassador Khalid also mentioned about China’s innovation and said that he had already experienced China’s mobile payment, bullet train and e-commerce.

However, he said that it was a pity that he had not tried China’s public shared Mobike.

“I am expecting that China’s ability to innovate will reach the world leading class in ten years”, he said.

Ambassador Khalid said that China had innovation improvement in these fields, and achievements in innovation of high technology and strategic industries are remarkable.

For instance, China’s super computer ranked 43 in the world in 2002, however, it already ranked the top in the world. And furthermore, China had gained rapid progress in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum mechanics, agriculture and environmental sciences.

He said that China’s advanced experience of science and technology innovation was worth of learning.

Currently, more than 20,000 Pakistani students are learning in Chinese universities majoring medical science, engineering and scientific research, he added.

He said that China’s investment in various fields in Pakistan also pushed forward the knowledge construction and reservation of Pakistan’s expert groups.

Developing countries often faced inadequate ability to innovate while China had relatively stronger ability to innovate, and could play important role in this regard, he added.

Ambassador Khalid said that China has now played an important role in many global issues such as anti-terror, climate change, peace-keeping and global epidemic prevention. China’s voice represented the aspirations of developing countries.

“Nowadays, China has played important roles in many global issues. China’s voice can be heard frequently in various fields such as anti-terror, climate change, peace-keeping and global epidemic prevention. China’s voice represents the aspirations of developing countries.”

He said that China had become the pioneer of global business, trade and communication in the world stage. China was not only the world’s second economy, but also a powerful engine for the world economy.

China’s economic sustainable growth was in the interest of the whole world. And meanwhile, China played an important role in many global issues, and made tremendous contribution to the world. China was now continuing to construct a more beautiful world for the mankind.

Ambassador Khalid appreciated the idea of “Building a community of shared future for mankind” proposed by President Xi Jinping.

He said this feasible idea, which was built on the foundation of win-win and mutual prosperity and respect, would lead to a new channel of cooperation for a stable, beautiful and harmonious world.

While talking about “One Belt and One Road”, Ambassador Khalid said that the world situation was characterized by turbulence and economic downturn and development stagnation.

The initiative “One Belt and One Road” had provided a workable solution to economic challenges.

Ambassador Khalid said that his first visit to China was in 1980s, and then he visited China many times due to work reasons. He had witnessed by himself the giant changes of the Chinese people’s living brought by the economic development.

“China has reestablished its status as the main economic power in the world,” Ambassador Khalid said.

Chinese economy has transferred from high-speed to high quality development. China’s GDP in 2017 realized 6.9%, which coincided with China’s economic goal.

“In the past five years, China has made remarkable achievements in poverty reduction, science and technology research, space exploration, communication devices, infrastructure construction, military and other various fields; although some skeptical voices can be heard from international communities, China has definitely realized its sustainable economic growth,” he commented.