ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday urged Pakistan’s ambassador-designate to China, Dr Syed Ali Asad Gilani, to further strengthen the country’s strategic partnership with Beijing through sustained high-level engagement, stronger people-to-people contacts and deeper economic cooperation.

The president made these remarks during a meeting with the ambassador-designate, who called on him at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

President Zardari said Pakistan-China relations remained the “most consequential aspect” of Pakistan’s foreign policy and stressed the need to sustain and reinforce the strategic mutual trust between the two countries.

He called for translating the strong political goodwill between Pakistan and China into greater economic and industrial integration, particularly through enhanced business-to-business cooperation under CPEC 2.0.

The president also emphasised cooperation with China in modern agriculture, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, saying such collaboration could contribute to skills development and create employment opportunities for Pakistan’s youth.

He directed Ambassador-designate Gilani to maintain proactive engagement with Chinese government institutions, the leadership of the Communist Party of China, think tanks, academia and media to further strengthen bilateral ties.

President Zardari also stressed the importance of promoting people-to-people contacts, including student exchange programmes, between Pakistan and China.

He said he looked forward to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit next year.

Senator Saleem Mandviwalla was also present during the meeting.