ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is preparing for a possible visit by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to China next month and the 13th meeting of a joint cooperation committee (JCC) on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Pakistani planning ministry said on Friday.

The statement came after Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal presided over a meeting with regard to the prime minister’s visit and preparations for the 13th JCC meeting.

Sharif is expected to visit China in May to restore Beijing’s confidence in Islamabad with regard to various Chinese-funded projects, Pakistani state media reported this month, citing a senior official.

“The federal minister said that the prime minister’s visit to China will be of great importance and China wishes that the 13th JCC [meeting] is held before this visit,” the Pakistani planning ministry said in a statement.

“So that projects, including five new economic corridors, can be accelerated and the desired results can be obtained from the visit.”

Beijing is investing over $65 billion in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of CPEC, a major segment of Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, which will connect China to the Arabian Sea and help Islamabad expand and modernize its economy through a network of roads, railways, pipelines and ports in Pakistan.

Since its initiation in 2013, CPEC has seen tens of billions of dollars funnelled into massive transport, energy and infrastructure projects. But the undertaking has also been hit by Pakistan struggling to keep up its financial obligations as well as militant attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan.

From 2013 to 2018, Iqbal said, China invested $25 billion in Pakistan under CPEC that improved economic condition of the country.

He said his government was currently taking steps to implement CPEC projects and was determined to soon complete them.