Pakistan's Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque remembers all the details of the preparations his team made to welcome a "historic visit" of a highly esteemed guest: China's President Xi Jinping.

President Xi made his first state visit to Pakistan from April 20 to 21, 2015. Haque, then chief of protocol of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says that President Xi is greatly admired in Pakistan, as a statesman, a visionary leader, and someone who has served his people and follows a people-centric approach.

Haque says that Pakistan-China friendship is "higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, sweeter than honey and stronger than steel". The people of Pakistan also laud China's "great miracle" of eradicating absolute poverty and lifting nearly 800 million people out of poverty.