ISLAMABAD, 25 November 2006 — Chinese President Hu Jintao and Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf oversaw the signing of a landmark free trade deal yesterday and vowed to take the allies’ “evergreen” relationship to new heights.
The two countries also agreed to cooperate on an airborne early warning system and inked a slew of agreements on defense and economy, while Hu said Beijing would continue to help Pakistan’s nuclear power program.
Officials said the trade agreement could increase trade to $15 billion within five years in a key move for both the Asian economic giant and its fast-developing neighbor. Minister of State for Investment and Special Initiatives Omar Ghuman told Arab News the agreement could triple the bilateral trade.
“This serves the fundamental interests of our two peoples and is also conducive to the peace and development of our region,” Hu told a news conference after hour-long talks with Musharraf.
“We want to work with Pakistan to raise our strategic ties to a new level,” added the Chinese leader, the first to visit this country for a decade.
Musharraf, whose country is keen to reinforce its 55-year-old ties with Beijing, said the “evergreen relationship of Pakistan and China will remain for all time.”
The presidents watched their ministers of commerce ink the trade pact and other accords, including a separate five-year development program, which the Chinese news agency Xinhua said was the first of its kind for Beijing. They also agreed to set up a joint investment company.
But while Hu said that Beijing would carry on cooperating with Pakistan’s nuclear power industry — China has built one reactor here and is helping to construct another — he did not announce any new deal.
Pakistani officials had earlier dismissed “speculative” reports that China would unveil a major new atomic agreement with Pakistan similar to one made between its archrival India and the United States earlier this year.
Asked about Pakistan’s strained relationship with India due to the half-century dispute over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, Hu said that a peaceful resolution would benefit the whole region. “South Asian countries are close neighbors to China. As a neighbor to both, China sincerely hopes peace and stability to be maintained on the subcontinent,” Hu told the news conference.
Separately, Pakistan’s air force said it had agreed with China to jointly develop aircraft equipped with long-range early warning radars. “The same may be delivered to Pakistan in coming years,” it said in a statement.
The air force said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese aviation company CETC to help develop the Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS).
“Pakistan Air Force and Chinese Aviation Industries have agreed for long-term collaboration and co-development in the fields of aircraft manufacturing... including AWACS,” the air force said in a statement.
Pakistan later yesterday gave Hu the rare honor of addressing the nation live on state television. “Our relations are higher than the Himalayas, deeper than the Indian Ocean and sweeter than honey,” Hu, dressed in a dark suit and red tie, said in the speech broadcast from the Islamabad convention center. He spoke in Chinese translated into English by an interpreter.
Hu praised Pakistan’s average economic growth of 7.5 percent in recent years and wished the close ally further success.
He also acknowledged Pakistan’s role when China faced isolation in the world during the 1950s and recalled how it acted as a bridge with the United States in the following decade.
“Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the new China. Ever since our diplomatic relations began in 1951 we have enjoyed mutual understanding, respect, trust and support and our friendship and cooperation has flourished,” he said.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf spoke before Hu, saying that Hu’s four-day visit “will open up avenues for enormous economic possibilities.”
He later presented Hu with Pakistan’s highest civilian honor and laid a sash around the Chinese leader’s neck.
