New FM Qureshi will "accompany him"...Pres Musharraf, not PM Gillani to represent Pakistan in China next week...
Pakistan's Musharraf to visit China next week
Apr 3, 2008, 14:01 GMT
Islamabad - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf will make a six-day visit of China next week, the foreign ministry said Thursday.
'The visit is part of regular high-level interaction between the two countries and reflective of close bilateral ties,' said a statement issued by the ministry.
Musharraf will leave April 10 and during the visit will meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other top state leaders.
He will also attend Boao Forum for Asia April 11-15, a meeting in Boao in China's southern most province of Hainan that brings together the regional state leaders, businessmen and prominent personalities.
The visit is expected to reinforce the decades old friendship between the two countries. Pakistan relies heavily on China for trade, investment and defence.
Musharraf's visit comes at a time when the pressure is mounting on him for resigning from the post. His political backers were thrashed in a February 18 election and a new lower house of parliament is hostile to the embattled president.