Canada Global (Web News) Later this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang will travel to Pakistan for the first time since taking office.
According to sources, Mr. Gang would arrive in Islamabad on May 5 just after the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting 2023 in the Indian state of Goa. On May 6, he would visit Pakistan and undertake strategic consultations with government representatives.
To discuss the situation in the region, Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan are also anticipated to meet in a trilateral setting. Amir Khan Muttaqi, the interim Afghan foreign minister, would attend the meeting in Islamabad.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister for the Taliban government, was earlier given permission by a UN Security Council committee on Monday to fly from Afghanistan to Pakistan the following week in order to meet with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China, according to diplomats.
Under Security Council sanctions, Muttaqi has long been subject to a travel ban, asset freeze, and arms embargo.
Pakistan’s U.N. mission requested an exception for Muttaqi to travel between May 6 and 9, “for a meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China,” in a letter to the Security Council’s 15-member committee on Taliban sanctions.
Chinese and Pakistani officials have both previously declared that they would welcome a Taliban-led Afghanistan as part of the multibillion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure project, which is a component of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Afghanistan is strategically situated on a trade and transit corridor connecting South and Central Asia, and it has untapped natural resources worth billions of dollars. The U.S.-led force left Afghanistan in August 2021 after 20 years of fighting, allowing the Taliban to take over.
Last month, a gathering of Afghanistan’s neighbours’ foreign ministers took held in Uzbekistan, and Muttaqi was given authorization by the Security Council committee to go. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss important matters of stability, security, and peace.
