Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan will join a handful of world leaders on Thursday as Beijing kicks off its Winter Olympics. Khan, whose plans to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin was dashed due to scheduling issues, will focus on his meeting with Xi as his government eyes a $3 billion loan from ‘all-weather friend’ China.
Earlier last week, Imran Khan along with national security adviser Dr Moeed Yousuf, army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, minister for energy Hammad Azhar, special assistant on CPEC Khalid Mansoor, finance minister Shaukat Tarin, planning minister Asad Umar, adviser on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, information minister Fawad Chaudhry and other senior officers were present at a preparatory session held where they were briefed regarding the objectives of the upcoming visit.
During the briefing it was discussed that Imran and his team in Beijing will review the entire gamut of the bilateral relations. A statement accessed by news agency Dawn from the Prime Minister’s Office outlined that the meeting was held to brief Khan on concrete plans for enhancing cooperation in the fields of investment, trade, information technology and exports. Imran Khan’s visit will begin on February 3 and end on February 5.
The $3 billion dollar loan, which is also on the agenda, is meant to boost Pakistan’s forex reserves. China has already loaned $11 billion to Pakistan in the form of commercial loans and foreign exchange reserves support initiatives, according to a report by news agency PTI. Even Pakistan’s official foreign exchange reserves, which is recorded at $16.1 billion, is mostly Chinese money held in China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, known as SAFE deposits. Imran will also ask China to invest in Pakistan’s textile, footwear, pharmaceutical, furniture, agriculture, automobile and information technology sectors.
Who Else Is Attending?
Given the fact that not many athletes from the 23 nations whose leaders will be present in the opening ceremony will be participating in the Olympics, it can be said that their visits have diplomatic objectives. Xi Jinping will be meeting these leaders in-person for the first time since January 2020. Even his close ally Russian president Vladimir Putin was forced to meet him virtually as Xi limited his meetings to virtual format. Here is a full list of leaders attending the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony –
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ali Javad oglu Ahmadov, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Chairman of the Council of Ministers Zoran Tegeltia, Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev,
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape, Serbia’s President Aleksander Vucic, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez, Mongolia’s Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, Singaporean President Halimah Yacob, Cambodia’s King Norosom Sihamoni, Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, UAE’s Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, South Korea’s Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seug, Monaco’s Prince Albert II, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri.
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