China and Pakistan signed a raft of new agreements aimed at moving forward their China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key Belt and Road Initiative project. China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif and its Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, signed six deals and MoUs in Islamabad on Monday.
Pakistan also gave He the Hilal-i-Pakistan award, the country’s second-highest civil award, for his contributions to China-Pakistan friendship and the development of CPEC.