Invited by the Chinese government, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will pay a visit to China's Hubei Province and Shanghai from Feb. 20 to 23, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu announced Thursday.

"We attach great importance to this visit," Jiang said at a regular press conference in Beijing, noting Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo will meet with Zardari in Hubei on behalf of the Chinese government.

Zardari was scheduled to observe China's development in areas including water conservation, agriculture as well as finance. And this will promote bilateral cooperation in the above areas, Jiang said.

China believed the visit would "consolidate" China-Pakistan all-weather friendship and deepen all-round cooperation, Jiang said.

This visit would be Zardari's second China visit. He paid a state visit to China last October.

Bilateral trade volume between China and Pakistan reached 6.9 billion US dollars in 2008, demonstrating a 1.3 percent year-on-year increase.

(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2009)