By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
The newly designated Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Nong Rong, is scheduled to meet President Dr Arif Alvi next week to present his credentials and deliver an important message from President Xi Jinping.
The first non-career diplomat for Pakistan for 40 years, Nong Rong assumed his assignment in Islamabad last week and had important meetings with senior top officers, including that of the Foreign Office.
He has brought a special message of goodwill of Chinese President Xi Jinping for the government and people of Pakistan that he would deliver to the President Dr Arif Alvi.
Ambassador Nong Rong has been dealing in foreign trade and economic affairs for the past three decades besides in various capacities. He, however, was never associated with the Chinese Foreign Office but he’s known to be having tremendous skill of negotiating and comprehending trade and economic matters.
Nong Rong, 53, belongs to the remote southern Chinese autonomous region of Guangxi Zhuang which is located near Vietnam’s border.
The diplomatic sources said that Nong Rong would provide much needed impetus to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship gigantic Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), connecting China with the whole world through new highways and routes. He is regarded among close aides of current Chinese leadership.