Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says Pakistan and China will lead toward shared development and prosperity with joint investments in diverse projects.

In an interview with Xinhua news agency, the Prime Minister said with unity, Pakistan and China will achieve common goals of development and prosperity.

He said the friendship between Pakistan and China spanned more than 70 years, and has been nurtured by both countries' leadership to promote friendly relations.

He added that the two countries have developed as all-weather, Iron Brothers and have unique associations of friendship that have stood the test of time. He said this friendship now must achieve higher heights.

Highlighting Chinese modernization, a key term defining China's journey to rejuvenation, the Prime Minister stressed that Pakistan should emulate the model.

He said the Chinese modernization model created growth centers and sectors that produce competing products by procuring modern knowledge in science and technology.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan should replicate this model in the country to alleviate poverty, provide jobs to the youth, and encourage small and medium entrepreneurs to kickstart businesses in villages, towns and cities in sectors of agriculture, industry, information technology and on other platforms.

Citing Pakistan as one of the first batch of countries joining the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative, he said that Pakistan fully and firmly supports China-proposed GDI and Global Security Initiative and believes the initiatives will further create strong connections between global communities.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif commended the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative as a very visionary initiative, which spans continents and alleviates poverty and hunger in the countries, promotes investments, and boosts education and health.

He said Pakistan is now ready to move toward the second phase of CPEC and will attract modern technology in information technology, industrial, and agricultural areas as China is now moving towards high-tech, higher quality production.

The Prime Minister said CPEC is dovetailing with the Pakistan-proposed Special Investment Facilitation Council, which aims to cut red tape and remove delays and inefficiencies.

He said the country is planning to build industrial parks and export zones and looking forward to attracting Chinese entrepreneurs to establish joint ventures in the areas of textile, steel or other with the combination of Chinese technology and Pakistan's comparatively cheap labor.

The prime minister said Pakistan is expecting to shift its transport system towards electrification to control foreign exchange expenditures on imported fuel and to conserve wealth to build its economy.

This will be done by acquiring the latest technology, which is available in China and other parts of the globe.

Calling China Pakistan's second home, Shehbaz Sharif said he looks forward to visiting it when possible as there is a tradition of new Pakistani leadership always taking great pleasure and honor in visiting China at an opportune time.