By Mariam Raheem
China and Pakistan have decades old brotherly relationship, and with the promotion of Belt and Road Initiative, the cooperation between both nations will bear more fruitful results.
China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic partners, and the friendship between the two brotherly countries has a long and cherished history. China and Pakistan have decades old brotherly relationship, and with the promotion of Belt and Road Initiative, the cooperation between both nations will bear more fruitful results.
This is what Wu Weidong, Deputy Mayor of Xuzhou Municipal People’s Government, highlighted in a conference titled “Looking Back and Going Forward” to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan.
The video conference was co-hosted by Xuzhou Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, Jiangsu Normal University and University of the Punjab. Prof. Sun Hongqi, Director of Pakistan Studies Center, Jiangsu Normal University, was the chair of the conference.
On the occasion, Moin ul Haque, Ambassador of Pakistan to China, underlined that when international ties have become more complex, the role of academic and research work has assumed a greater significance. He said the academia think tanks, including universities, can keep a faithful record for bilateral ties, identify new areas of cooperation and explore definitely the complex metrics between politics, economics and culture besides bringing two countries together for more and more people to people exchanges.
Huang Xiqiang, Superintendent of Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, said that as early as 1993, Jiangsu Province established relationship with Punjab Province. Over the past three decades, China and Pakistan have witnessed numerous highlights in cooperation in the construction of CPEC, economy and trade, education, etc.
Hussain Haider, Consul General of Pakistan in Shanghai, said that China is Pakistan’s largest trade partner and largest source of foreign investment. He said Chinese investment in Pakistan can be used for manufacturing to sell in Pakistan, export to China and EU at zero import duty.
Peng Zhengwu, Deputy Consul General of China in Lahore, pointed out that Jiangsu has injected new vitality into the in-depth development of China-Pakistan relations. The Chinese Consulate General in Lahore is willing to constantly play an active role as a bridge to support Jiangsu and Punjab in strengthening this relation.
Professor Cen Hong, Deputy Chair of the University Council, Jiangsu Normal University, reviewed the cooperative relationship established between Jiangsu Normal University and major educational institutions in Pakistan. He specially emphasized the role of the Xuzhou Pakistan Business Cooperation Forum in strengthening bilateral relations.
Prof. Dr. Niaz Ahamd Akhtar, Vice Chancellor, University of Punjab, said that there are vast opportunities of cooperation in higher education sector. “The Chinese universities can admit Pakistani students in large number. Students who graduate from Chinese universities in medical and engineering subjects face difficulties in recognition of the degrees,” he said, adding that if those universities are registered with accreditation bodies like Pakistan Engineering Council and Pakistan Medical Commission then the issue can be solved.
Explaining that China has offered quite good number of scholarships to Pakistani students and number of Pakistani students studying in China has reached to 30,000, Professor Amjad Magsi, said that learning of Chinese language is important for the students, and, similarly, learning of Urdu and regional languages will also go long way in cementing the cultural relationships.
Tang Mengsheng, Director of Pakistan Studies Center, Peking University, Professor Zamir Awan, Director of China Studies Center, National University of Sciences and Technology and other renowned scholars highlighted the history of Pak-China relations and shared their views on how to deepen this relation in the next decades.
As a special session, Jiang Zhenxiao, Lu Zhengqian and Han Bin, three workers who assisted the construction of Karakoram Highway in Pakistan shared the touching stories they encountered when they were building the road.
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