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Pakistan's Musharraf leaves for China on six-day visit

Other News Materials 10 April 2008 12:36 (UTC +04:00)

(dpa) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf Thursday left for China on a six-day official visit that is aimed at bolstering bilateral ties.

Musharraf will meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao to discuss various regional and international issues and means to enhance trade and defence cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.

His delegation includes the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar.

Musharraf will also attend Boao Forum for Asia April 11-15, a meeting in Boao in China's southernmost province of Hainan that brings together the regional state leaders, businessmen and prominent personalities.

During the conference he will meet several world leaders, including the president of Sri Lanka and prime ministers of Australia and Kazakhstan.

The visit is expected to reinforce the decades-old friendship between the two countries. Pakistan relies heavily on China for trade, investment and defence.

Musharraf's visit comes at a time when pressure is mounting on him to resign from the post. His political backers were thrashed in a February 18 election and a new lower house of parliament is hostile to the embattled president.

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