On November 7, 2011, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov and Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov on the sidelines of the 10th Meeting of the Prime Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States in St. Petersburg.
During the meeting with Gilani, Wen said, in recent years, China and Pakistan had boosted their high-level exchanges, strategic coordination and mutually beneficial cooperation and safeguarded their common interests, and the two sides had thus played important roles in international and regional affairs. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Wen said China stood ready to work closely with Pakistan to earnestly implement the consensus reached by both sides and take the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties and "the China-Pakistan Friendship Year" as a fresh starting point for elevating their ties to a higher level and bringing more benefits to the two peoples. He stressed that China and Pakistan are good brothers and good partners. China firmly supported Pakistan's efforts to safeguard its national sovereignty and dignity and was willing to work with Pakistan to meet counterterrorism and other security challenges. China would, as always, provide assistance for Pakistan's economic and social development and honor its commitments on issues related to Pakistan's post-quake reconstruction efforts, Wen said. Wen voiced hope that Pakistan would overcome its current difficulties and make fresh progress in its development.
Gilani said that, as a reliable friend and partner, China had long provided unflagging support and valuable assistance for Pakistan. Expressing his heartfelt thanks, Gilani said the Pakistani side was ready to make concerted efforts with China to further promote high-level exchanges and advance cooperation in such areas as economy and trade, energy, infrastructure construction, finance and culture. Pakistan would also strengthen coordination with China in international and regional affairs and pledge mutual support on issues concerning their respective core interests in a bid to push forward their strategic cooperative partnership and make positive contributions to regional peace, stability and development, he said.
During his meeting with Masimov, Wen first congratulated him on the coming 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence, saying China-Kazakhstan ties entered a new phase in June when Chinese President Hu Jintao and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev jointly announced to develop China-Kazakhstan strategic partnership and made strategic planning for the future development of bilateral ties. Wen said China was willing to work with Kazakhstan through Sino-Kazakh regular prime ministers' meeting mechanism and the Sino-Kazakh Cooperation Committee in further coordinating practical cooperation between the two sides, actively promoting energy cooperation and enhancing mutual communications and coordination within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) framework in a bid to develop the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership.
Masimov thanked China for its help and support to Kazakhstan in effectively addressing the global financial crisis, saying that Kazakhstan and China enjoy profound traditional friendship and fruitful pragmatic cooperation. Kazakhstan was willing to enhance strategic communication and coordination with China and deepen exchanges and cooperation to push bilateral ties to a higher level, Masimov said.
During his meeting with Akilov, Wen said in recent years, with the joint efforts of both sides, China-Tajikistan cooperation in various areas has achieved new outcomes, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples. In face of the increasingly complex international and regional situation, China is willing to work with Tajikistan to meet the challenges, deepen mutual trust and promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture, transportation and infrastructure construction, he said. Wen also said that as the two nations are going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their diplomatic ties next year, China stands ready to seize the opportunity to push the bilateral good-neighborly cooperative relations to a higher level.
Akilov said friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Tajikistan has boosted economic and social development of Tajikistan and developing relations with China has always been one of Tajikistan’s diplomatic priorities. Tajikistan is willing to closely coordinate with China to implement consensus reached by the two countries' leaders in a bid to bring more benefits to the two peoples.