Premier Wen Jiabao will begin a three-day official visit to Pakistan on Tuesday, which will further strengthen the "all-weather" and time-tested friendship and strategic partnership between Pakistan and China, Pakistan's Foreign Office said on Monday.  

Wen, who will lead a 70-member delegation, will hold meetings with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, said Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani.

President Musharraf will host lunch in his honor to welcome Wen and Prime Minister Aziz will also host a banquet.

The Chinese premier will be a keynote speaker at the Fourth Foreign Ministers' Meeting of Asia Cooperation Dialogue on April 6.

During his stay, he will address a Sino-Pakistan business forum, the spokesman said, adding that the Chinese premier will also address the foundation-laying ceremony of the Pak-China friendship center in Islamabad.

Jilani said the two countries will sign a large number of bilateral agreements and Memorandums of Understanding about cooperation in political, diplomatic, defense, trade, education and agricultural fields.

Wen will start his one-week visit to South Asia on Tuesday. He will visit Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2005)