President Xi Jinping leaves Beijing on Monday morning for Pakistan on a two-day state visit. During the trip the two countries will kick-start mega connectivity projects.[Special coverage]
Pakistan is the first stop of Xi's foreign visit in 2015 and it is also the first visit to the country by a Chinese leader in nine years.
According to a signed article by Xi in Pakistan's Daily Times newspaper on Sunday, Xi said "this will be my first trip to Pakistan, but I feel as if I am going to visit the home of my own brother".
Xi said the two countries "need to form a '1+4' cooperation structure" with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor at the center and the Gwadar Port, energy, infrastructure and industrial cooperation being the four key areas to drive development across Pakistan and deliver tangible benefits to its people".
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, referring to a planned network connecting Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to the southwestern Pakistani port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, is the biggest connectivity project between the two countries after Karakorram highway built in 1979. It will shorten the route for China's energy imports from the Middle East, bypassing the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia.
After Pakistan, Xi will visit Indonesia, also a key stop along the "Belt and Road" initiatives, to attend the Asian-African Summit and activities marking the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, from Tuesday to Friday.
