China, Pakistan agree to boost cooperation

MILAN, Italy - Senior diplomats of China and Pakistan agreed here Thursday to further strengthen bilateral coordination and cooperation on international and regional affairs.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Syed Tariq Fatemi, special assistant to the prime minister on foreign affairs, reaffirmed the commitment in a meeting on the sidelines at the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit.

Wang said China looks forward to receiving Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Beijing in November for the host-partners dialogue on the sidelines of the informal leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Wang and Fatemi agreed that the two sides should maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges and push forward practical cooperation in large projects, so as to further promote their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

The ASEM summit, opened in Milan on Thursday under the theme of "Responsible Partnership for Growth and Security" and attended by leaders from 53 countries, adopted Croatia and Kazakhstan as new members.