Beijing, July 23 (IANS) Pakistan is ‘very satisfied’ with the performance of the frigates it bought from China and hopes to further strategic maritime cooperation with the nation, a top Pakistani official said.
Two of the four F-22P frigates Pakistan ordered from China are already in service its navy, with the third one scheduled to be commissioned in September this year.
‘We are very happy with the performance, and some technology is as good as in Western countries,’ Admiral Noman Bashir, Pakistan’s chief of naval staff, was quoted as saying by China Daily.
Pakistan also hopes to buy bigger ships with more firepower from China, he said.
It also proposed to develop strategic maritime cooperation with China in both military and commercial sectors, such as fishery and cargo, he said.
‘The friendship between China and Pakistan is greater than the Himalayas and deeper than the ocean. We already made progress in air force and other areas, now we should expand cooperation in navy,’ he said.
‘We can provide facilities, ports, logistics, maintenance among other things (to the Chinese navy),’ another Pakistan navy official said.
