A series of agreements aimed to strenghten the friendship between China and Pakistan were signed in a virtual meeting between officials from the two countries on Thursday.

The 2021 Forum on Cooperation between China and Pakistan Friendship Provinces and Cities, co-organized by the China People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and the Pakistani Embassy in China, served as a highlight of commemorations of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan. 

A total of 240 participants from China and Pakistan joined the event online and offline.

"Friendship provinces and cities are a focal point in the cooperation between China and Pakistan. They serve as a main venue to deepen all-round cooperation between our two countries. China firmly supports Pakistan in finding a development path suited to its national conditions and is ready to work with Pakistan for common development," said Zhang Chunxian, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress.

Qasim Khan Suri, deputy speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, said Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, iron-brothers and closest friends.

"Our time-tested friendship is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people of the two countries. The last seven decades of high-level exchanges between the two countries speak volumes of deep affinity and mutual trust between the leaderships, governments and peoples of the two countries," he said.

Minister for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Affairs Khalid Mansoor said at the forum that CPEC has given a new impetus to the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

During the event, 11 agreements pertaining to the establishment of sister-relationships between different provinces and cities of China and Pakistan were signed. To date, China and Pakistan have established 17 sister provinces/cities.

Following the launch of the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, diversified cooperation between the two sides in the areas of trade, investment, education, science and technology, agriculture, education, and people-to-people exchanges will expand, officials said. 

(Cover: A view of Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan's Gwadar. /Xinhua)