By Augustine Anthony ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Pakistan announced on Saturday Chinese bankers would be visiting soon to assess Pakistan's needs, and companies had pledged to invest $1 billion by next June. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a news conference, held a day after President Zardari's return from a visit to Beijing, that China had agreed to develop Pakistan's civil nuclear power generation capacity, and invest in a mega-dam and hydro-electricity project. Zardari intended to visit China every three months "to promote economic integration between the two countries", Qureshi said. Qureshi said China would participate in a "Friends of Pakistan" conference expected to take place in Abu Dhabi next month. The participants are largely made up of potential donors who gathered on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last month to address Pakistan's needs as its seven-month-old civilian government faces rising Islamist militancy and a looming balance of payments crisis. China has remained Pakistan's all-weather friend, while ties with the United States have tended to run hot and cold. The new government is seeking to maintain the alliance with the United States that former army chief Pervez Musharraf entered in the wake of al Qaeda's attacks on U.S. cities in 2001. But it has also tried to draw a limit on how far the United States can go in terms of targeting militant targets in Pakistani territory. Zardari picked China for first state visit after being elected in September, though he went to the United States last month to attend the U.N. General Assembly. Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani visited China, one of Pakistan's main arms suppliers, shortly before Zardari, and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is expected to follow in their footsteps later this month. Zardari requested more than $3 billion support from China during his visit, according to uncorroborated media reports.Shaukat Tarin, the recently appointed adviser to the prime minister on economic affairs, said Chinese companies had committed to invest $1 billion in Pakistan by June next year. Pakistan intended to set up industrial zones for Chinese companies, Chinese banks intended to open branches in Pakistan, and Chinese executives from the information technology and telecommunications sectors would be visiting to look at opportunities for investment. (Additional reporting by Sahar Ahmed; Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
Afghan refugees flee from the troubled Bajaur tribal region in Pakistan October 17, 2008. Pakistani authorities have begun expelling Afghan refugees from a tribal region that has become the main battleground ...
