Web desk(National Times)- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday lauded the “historic” ties between Pakistan and China during a meeting with a Chinese business delegation.

According to a handout from the Prime Minister’s Office, a high-level 11-member Chinese business delegation led by Qian Xiaojun, the founder, president and controlling shareholder of IBI Beijing United Technology, called on the premier.

“While welcoming the delegation to Pakistan, the prime minister said Pakistan and China enjoyed historic ties and the two countries were all-weather strategic cooperative partners,” the handout said.

He lauded the remarkable progress made by China under the visionary leadership of President Xi Jinping and said that he was looking forward to his visit to China later this month, it added.

The prime minister welcomed the growing business-to-business engagement between the two countries and said it was particularly encouraging that IBI would promote digital economy cooperation, investment facilitation and industrial collaboration, it said.

Expressing confidence in Pakistan’s economy, Xiaojun said IBI hoped to help build the backbone for the digital transformation of Pakistan’s economy.

He said the establishment of IBI’s Digital Economy headquarters in Pakistan would be the command centre for this transformation and would provide massive opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in Pakistan by offering a gateway for them to a vast Chinese market.

The delegation’s visit followed the Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference held in Beijing in September 2025 during the prime minister’s visit to China.