By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - China and Pakistan on Friday held the third round of Joint Consultative Mechanism (JCM) of political parties on multi-billion dollars China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in Islamabad.
The event was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar and international affairs chief of China's Communist Party, Liu Jianchao, and attended by the representatives of all major political parties of Pakistan, said a statement from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.
Both sides reaffirmed the salience of CPEC for Pakistan and China, and pledged to make joint efforts for its up-gradation and for further strengthening Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.
The speakers at the event included Pakistan Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani and National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
Addressing the forum, Liu called for improving security situation in the South Asian country for "better" implementation of the CPEC related projects, state-run Pakistan Television reported.
He expressed confidence that Islamabad will take all possible measures to ensure security of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan.
His remarks referred to recent terrorist attacks targeting Chinese nationals in Pakistan.
The 65 billion dollar CPEC, which is part of China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, aims to connect its northwestern Xinjiang province to Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province through a 2000-mile network of road, rail and pipelines.
Balochistan's deep-sea Gawadar port, a key component of CPEC, will provide the shortest route for the Chinese cargo destined for Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.