President Asif Ali Zardari and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao talk during their meeting in Beijing.—AP Photo

ISLAMABAD: China and Pakistan will sign 20 agreements and MoUs during the visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

This was stated by China’s ambassador to Pakistan Liu Jian in an interview to APP here on Tuesday.

He said China’s Premier and Pakistani leadership will hold wide-ranging discussions to draw a five-year blueprint to expand their economic and trade relations.

He said the top priority of the visit of the Chinese leader to Pakistan will be to further solidify already strong strategic ties with medium and short-term plans of action.

Wen Jiabao will pay a 3-day official visit to Pakistan from Dec 17 to 19.

The ambassador said Wen Jiabao will be leading a large business delegation; comprising more than 250 business leaders.

The ambassador said at present, Pakistan is China’s second largest trading partner in South Asia and China is Pakistan’s third largest trading partner, third largest import source and fifth largest export market of Pakistan.

He said the bilateral trade was growing as in the first nine months of this year, the volume grew by 29 per cent as compared to last year and China’s imports rose by 36 per cent during the same period.

Referring to the cooperation in energy sector, he said there are 120 ongoing bilateral projects, which will bring tangible benefits to the people of Pakistan.—APP