Curbing terrorism essential for promoting investment: Sartaj

“Pakistan, therefore, seeks to establish and sustain long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with global and regional players in Asia”, he added.

Aziz added that Pakistan is completing many projects with cooperation from different countries.

In April, China and Pakistan signed an agreement on the construction of the 1, 800-mile China-Pakistan Economic Corridor expected to connect China’s Xinjiang region and the Pakistani port of Gwadar on the Indian Ocean. The two countries have recently made great strides in deepening this cooperation. China and Japan dispute the sovereignty of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, while Japan and South Korea have their problems over Dokdo/Takeshima Islands.

Speaking of Pakistan’s current position with regards to the competition between China and the United States, Aziz said the country is now focused on expanding bilateral ties with the U.S. through joint investments in education, clean energy, technology and climate change mitigation.

He regretted that “some countries” were trying to cause a distraction in the implementation of CPEC.

“To keep pace with China in the Indo-Pacific, the United States should consider a combination of new strategies and larger naval budgets for weapon systems to maintain presence and reassure allies and partners like India”, it said. We have vibrant and robust relations with another power in the region, i.e. Russian Federation.

He briefed the committee on the meetings on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session and said that they were a success and Pakistan vividly opposed India’s permanent seat in the Security Council. He said that it was praised by the people of Pakistan and acknowledged by the rest of world, except India.

Mr Aziz floated the idea of shared regional leadership involving main countries of the region instead of just one being propped up as a regional hegemon. “From Pakistan’s perspective, China together with the USA and Russian Federation, are important pillars in the newly emerging economic and security order of the region”, the report quoted Aziz as saying.

Although a large-scale conflict between China and India is unlikely, persistent suspicions and border disputes could have dire consequences, it said. Earlier, Amin had said that Asia-Pacific has undergone serious changes in the post-Cold War era, making Asia the powerhouse of global politics.