ISLAMABAD: Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing said on Thursday that a planned visit to Pakistan of Chinese President Xi Jinping had been rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pakistani media has reported.
While speaking to journalists at a local mall in Rawalpindi, Yao said the governments of China and Pakistan were working to finalize a new date for Xi’s visit, which would be announced soon. He said President Xi would visit Pakistan on the invitation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The envoy expressed satisfaction over progress in projects under the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement, saying both nations were aware of threats to the corridor posed by common ‘enemies’.
“We will not allow the enemies to succeed in their nefarious designs and CPEC projects will continue despite the challenge of COVID-19 on both sides,” Yao was quoted by Pakistani media as saying.
CPEC has seen Beijing pledge over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, central to China’s wider Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop land and sea trade routes in Asia and beyond.
Separately on Thursday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met Yao and emphasized the need for greater cooperation between Pakistan and China in the agriculture sector.
There is a greater need to revamp and modernize agriculture sector with China’s co-operation and unleash the Second Green Revolution in Pakistan,” Qureshi said in a statement.
He said China in recent years had introduced wide-ranging reforms in its agriculture sector that had contributed significantly to the country’s GDP growth and strengthened and diversified its research and development capacity.
“It was imperative that Pakistan benefits from China’s experiences,” the statement said, adding that Qureshi said “deeper agriculture cooperation between China and Pakistan will lead to job creation, enhancing agricultural productivity, poverty alleviation and stimulating economic recovery in Pakistan in the aftermath of COVID-19.”
Welcoming the establishment of the Joint Working Group on Agriculture Cooperation under CPEC, Qureshi said the inclusion of agriculture under the CPEC umbrella would promote industrialization and modernization of the agriculture economy.
Chinese president reschedules Pakistan visit due to COVID-19
https://arab.news/b8qmn
Chinese president reschedules Pakistan visit due to COVID-19
- Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Yao says both nations working together to finalize a new date for Xi’s trip
- Pakistani foreign minister emphasizes need for greater cooperation between Pakistan and China in agriculture sector
Pakistan arrests suspect arriving from Cambodia amid crackdown on human smuggling
- Suspect worked at an “online fraud company” in Cambodia, later started smuggling people from Pakistan, says FIA
- Pakistan has intensified crackdown against human smugglers after hundreds of migrants drowned near Pylos in 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday said it had arrested a key suspect involved in smuggling humans who had arrived from Cambodia, alleging he was also part of an international fraud network.
The suspect, identified as Zainullah, was arrested by FIA officials when he arrived in the southern port city of Karachi from Cambodia.
Zainullah had traveled from Pakistan to Cambodia in September 2024, a press release issued by the agency said.
“He worked at an online fraud company in Cambodia and later became involved as an agent in recruiting individuals from Pakistan,” the FIA said.
The FIA said it recovered images of multiple individuals’ passports, payment receipts and bank transaction records after extracting data from Zainullah’s phone.
It said the suspect received money through personal bank accounts and a cryptocurrency account.
“The suspect has been handed over to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle, Karachi, for further legal proceedings,” the FIA said.
“Further investigation is underway.”
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean.
Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said this week illegal migration to Europe has declined by 47 percent this year after its nationwide crackdown, saying that more than 1,700 human smugglers have been arrested in 2025.
