In May 2017, the leaders of China and Cuba reached fruitful consensuses on strengthening bilateral trade and economic cooperation during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. In order to implement the consensuses well, the 8th Meeting of China-Pakistan FTA Negotiations (Phrase II) was held in Beijing on September 14, and China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen and Pakistan’s Secretary of Ministry of Commerce Dagha cohosted this meeting. They discussed topics of goods trade, service trade and negotiation implementation to further improve the liberalization level of bilateral trade.

China-Pakistan free trade agreement was signed in 2006 and came into force in 2007. The second phase of the negotiation was launched in 2011. Pakistan is an important country along the “Belt and Road” as well as China’s crucial partner to implement the free trade area strategy—with the foothold on the surrounding countries, influencing the “Belt and Road” region and facing the world.