ISLAMABAD: China and Pakistan signed around $20 billion worth of deals Friday, boosting trade and investment as Wen Jiabao became the first Chinese premier in five years to visit the country. Pakistan considers China its closest foreign ally and treated Wen and a massive business delegation to a red-carpet welcome. The two countries signed 13 agreements and memorandums of understanding in fields including energy, rail transport, reconstruction, agriculture and culture, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told reporters. “A major breakthrough is China's agreement on cooperation in the energy sector,” the minister said. “The Chinese government has assured they will fund all the energy projects of Pakistan,” he said. “China will provide assistance in 36 projects in Pakistan to be completed in five years,” he said. “Basically this is a five-year development plan.” He said $14 billion will come through a joint economic cooperation group, $5 billion in other business agreements, while deals worth another $10 billion are expected to be concluded at a business leaders' meeting Saturday. “Overall the Chinese investment is expected to be around $30 billion,” he said. Although the deals are vitally important to the moribund Pakistani economy, they pale in comparison with Wen's agreement in Pakistan's arch rival India on Thursday where the two countries agreed to double bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2015. “We have unprecedented relations with China. The whole nation is proud of the Pakistan-China friendship,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told PTV. The Chinese premier held talks with Gilani after being greeted at the airport by Pakistan's entire cabinet and military chiefs, who depend on Chinese hardware, and a guard of honor with a 21-gun salute. Wen will meet President Asif Ali Zardari, attend a business cooperation summit and inaugurate a new Chinese cultural centre in Islamabad on Saturday. He will address a joint session of the Pakistani parliament before leaving Sunday. Although no specific mention was made of nuclear power, talks are believed to be ongoing on China building a one-gigawatt nuclear power plant as part of Pakistani plans to produce 8,000 megawatts of electricity by 2025 and overcome acute energy shortages. The West has expressed concern about the security of Pakistan's nuclear material, but China has built a 300-megawatt nuclear power reactor at Chashma in central Punjab province and another of the same capacity is under way. Officials in Pakistan admit the country has a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with China, a counter-weight to India's agreement with the United States on nuclear energy cooperation. “We have developed an energy cooperation mechanism, it relates to all sectors of energy, including wind, coal and hydro energy.” – Agence France
