Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will pay a one-day visit to China tomorrow.
He will hold meetings with his Chinese counterpart and senior leadership while important decisions will be taken regarding the visit of the Chinese president to Pakistan.
Qureshi to visit China to discuss President Xi’s Pakistan visit https://t.co/w6wuUmsqWl pic.twitter.com/Tm4fCM36eX
— 24 News HD (@24NewsHD) August 18, 2020
According to media reports, the government of Pakistan has repaid one billion dollars last month from a three billion dollars loan taken from the Saudi government. One billion dollars more is due by the end of this month.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi will request the Chinese government to provide one billion dollars during his visit to China to ensure repayment of loans by August 31.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi is scheduled to meet with Chinese officials as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Read more: Shah Mehmood Qureshi call to OIC: Pakistanis hails no more compromise on self-respect
During Foreign Minister’s visit to China, bilateral relations including the situation of CPEC, ML-1 and Ladakh will also be discussed.
Earlier, China came to Pakistan’s assistance when Saudi Arabia abruptly asked for the repayment of loans. It was China which lent Pakistan 1 Billion USD to pay off its debt.
What prompted KSA to ask for repayment of loan?
Earlier, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in an unusually sharp warning asked Saudi Arabia-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday to stop dilly-dallying on the convening of a meeting of its Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) on Kashmir.
Appearing in a talk show on ARY News, the foreign minister said: “I am once again respectfully telling OIC that a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers is our expectation. If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris.”
Mr Qureshi said that if OIC fails to summon the CFM meeting, Pakistan would be ready to go for a session outside OIC. In response to another question, he said Pakistan could not wait any further.
Read more: OIC wants halt to Kashmir abuse by India
Pakistan has been pushing for the foreign ministers’ meeting of the 57-member bloc of Muslim countries, which is the second largest intergovernmental body after the UN, since India annexed occupied Kashmir last August.
Mr Qureshi had at an earlier presser explained the importance of CFM for Pakistan. He had then said that it was needed to send a clear message from Ummah on the Kashmir issue.
Although there has been a meeting of the contact group on Kashmir on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session in New York since last August and OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission has made statements on the rights abuses in the occupied valley, but no progress could be made towards the CFM meeting.
Online Int’l News with additional input by GVS News Desk