President Dr Arif Alvi paid a visit to the Chinese Embassy to extend his heartfelt condolences on behalf of the Government and people of Pakistan to the Chinese leadership and the people over the passing of the former Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, today. While signing the condolence book, the President wrote that he was deeply saddened and grieved and his thoughts and sincere prayers were with Mr Jiang’s family, friends and the people of China over the passing away of Mr Jiang Zemin, the former President of the People’s Republic of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. Later, condoling with the Chinese Ambassador, Mr Nong Rong, the President said that Mr Jiang Zemin was a remarkable leader, a visionary and a statesman, who promoted global peace and stability at bilateral, regional and international levels. He said that the former President was a great and trusted friend of Pakistan who made invaluable contributions to strengthen the bilateral all-weather strategic cooperative friendship between our two countries and played a key role in further strengthening and cementing people-to-people relations. He said that the time-tested friendship between Pakistan and China was based on exceptional trust, understanding, strategic communication and wide-ranging practical cooperation. The President expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan for the generous and meaningful Chinese support during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the devastating climate change-induced super floods which affected most parts of Pakistan and resulted in the loss of precious lives and livelihood of people, loss of livestock and destruction of physical infrastructure. He said that Pakistan was firmly committed to the successful completion of projects under CPEC, which reflected high-quality development and contributions to the socio-economic development of Pakistan’s remote areas. He added that the Flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), CPEC, had transformed the economic landscape of Pakistan and expressed the hope that the early development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) would serve as a catalyst for accelerating investment flows, and continued to remain a priority. Later, in his press statement given to official Pakistani and Chinese media, the President expressed his deepest condolences over the sad demise of the former Chinese President and said that in the fast-changing world, the role of China had assumed immense importance for global and regional economic and financial stability and lasting peace.
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