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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is due to arrive in China on Saturday for a six-day visit to attend a regional summit and hold meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, with political, economic and investment ties topping the agenda.

Sharif’s visit, from Aug. 30 till Sept. 4, underscores the strong and multifaceted partnership between the two countries, which spans defense, diplomacy and economic cooperation.

China has long been Pakistan’s largest investor and its closest strategic ally, anchored by the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Both sides are working to advance into “CPEC 2.0,” focused on industrialization, agriculture, energy and connectivity.

“Departing on a historic visit to China! Will participate in the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Council of Heads of State Meeting in Tianjin,” Sharif said on X on Saturday morning. “I look forward to meeting H.E. President Xi Jinping and other world leaders to further build upon our bilateral ties with China.”

China has long sought to present the SCO as a counterweight to Western-led power blocs and has pushed for greater collaboration between its 10 members.

More than 20 foreign leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the regional security bloc’s largest meeting since it was founded, China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin said Friday. Top politicians from member states or guest countries such as Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Turkiye and Vietnam are also among those taking part.

Pakistan’s foreign office earlier said that Sharif’s meetings with President Xi and Premier Li will focus on multifaceted dimensions of Pakistan-China bilateral cooperation.

“He would also attend the military parade with President Xi and other world leaders being held in Beijing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the World’s Anti-Fascist War,” it said, using a term widely employed in China to describe World War II.

Sharif would also interact with Chinese business leaders and corporate executives to discuss trade and investment and address a Pakistan-China Business-to-Business (B2B) Investment Conference in Beijing, according to the foreign office. Sharif’s engagements are part of leadership-level exchanges that both governments describe as vital to maintaining their “all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.”

The foreign office said the visit will reaffirm support on core interests, strengthen bilateral cooperation and ensure regular consultations on regional and global developments.

Sharif also visited China in June 2024, when he held talks with Xi and Li in Beijing, toured cultural and educational sites in Xi’an, and announced that 1,000 Pakistani students would receive agricultural training in China.

That five-day trip included meetings with leading Chinese companies in the energy and technology sectors, as the government strives to encourage foreign investors to explore manufacturing and other opportunities in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Power Minister Sardar Awais Leghari on Friday warned that the use of solar net-metering facility could add an extra burden of Rs3-4 per unit on consumers, if allowed to continue unchanged.

Solar net-metering is a policy that allows homeowners and businesses to generate power using solar panels and export excess energy to the national grid. In Pakistan, it is a billing system through which consumers receive credits or monetary compensation for the surplus power they sell to the grid.

Approved in 2017 to promote solar energy, Pakistan’s net-metering policy pays Rs21 per unit for surplus solar power, including a Rs1.90 subsidy. In April last year, the energy ministry said the subsidy burden falls on the government and other consumers to benefit affluent households with solar panels.

Around 0.6 percent of total electricity consumers in Pakistan are net-metering users out of which 80 percent belonged to affluent areas of major cities while the remaining 99.4 percent of electricity consumers bear the burden of the net-metering costs, the energy ministry said in January this year.

“As for the matter of net metering, if it is allowed to continue in the same manner, then 200,000 to 300,000 people will benefit from it while placing an additional burden of Rs3-4 on the entire nation,” Leghari said at a press conference in Lahore.

Around 18 million consumers are already receiving electricity at a 70 percent discount, which was up from nearly six million consumers in recent years, according to the minister. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed further cuts in electricity prices and officials at the energy ministry are “exploring different options” to achieve this.

Leghari had called for revising Pakistan’s existing net-metering system in January this year, saying that it was becoming unfeasible for the government.

“Solar net-metering has to change,” Leghari said while addressing a conference in Islamabad. “It is impossible for us to sustain the same cost of buying power from distributors the way we are.”

Pakistan has ideal climatic conditions for solar power generation, with most parts of the country receiving over nine hours of sunlight daily. According to the World Bank, utilizing just 0.071 percent of the country’s land area for solar photovoltaic (solar PV) power generation could meet Pakistan’s electricity demand.

The South Asian country, home to 241 million people, aims to transition to 60 percent renewable energy by 2030 and reduce projected emissions by 50 percent. However, despite a recent surge in solar power adoption, it remains far behind in achieving this goal.