ISLAMABAD, 15 September 2026 (Kamran Raja): President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday called for sustaining and reinforcing strategic mutual trust between Pakistan and China through continued high-level exchanges, stronger people-to-people contacts and deeper economic cooperation. During a meeting with Pakistan’s ambassador-designate to China, Dr Syed Ali Asad Gilani, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president said the relationship with China remained the most consequential aspect of Pakistan’s foreign policy. He called for translating the strong political goodwill between the two countries into greater economic and industrial integration and welcomed the focus on Business-to-Business cooperation under CPEC 2.0. President Zardari also emphasised cooperation in modern agriculture, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, particularly for skills development and job creation for youth. He directed the ambassador-designate to maintain proactive engagement with Chinese government institutions, the Communist Party of China leadership, think tanks, academia and media, while promoting people-to-people ties, including student exchanges. The president also said he looked forward to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan for the SCO Summit next year. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla was also present during the meeting.