SUKKUR: Sindh University’s Area Study Centre has organised a two-day international conference titled “Pak-China strategic partnership & its regional implications”, in which a large number of Chinese and Pakistani scholars participated.
Speaking on the occasion, the scholars and educationists from Pakistan and China have termed the the friendship between both the countries as exemplary.
The speakers said that both Beijing and Islamabad had stepped up efforts for economic development in Pakistan by launching a number of bilateral projects including the economic corridor and those in the energy sector.
China’s Zhejiang Normal University Vice Chancellor Dr Lou Shizhou talked on the trade opportunities in Chinese city’s Yiwa market and the building of the Silk Road.
He said, “While the trade and energy corridor may be ‘monumental’ for Pakistan, for China it is part of a more ambitious plan to beef up the country’s global economic muscle.” He described the corridor as the flagship project of a broader policy -“One Belt, One Road” – which seeks to physically connect China to its markets in Asia, Europe and beyond. This initiative includes the New Silk Road which will link China with Europe through Central Asia and the Maritime Silk Road to ensure a safe passage of China’s shipping through the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.“This initiative can bring greater cohesion in South Asia, one of the world’s least economically integrated regions”, he said.
While giving her presidential remarks, SU Vice Chancellor Dr Abida Taherani said that the recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pakistan and the deal worth $46 billion focusing on a broad spectrum of cooperation – and addressing the core issues like energy, transport and infrastructural developments – would have a greater degree of impact on the lives of people on both sides.
“More than 30 out of 51 MoUs signed on the occasion of President Xi’s visit related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; it reflects the significance of this mega project that promises us new vistas of prosperity for the masses not only on both sides of the border but particularly in hitherto vast under-developed areas of Balochistan and Sindh,” she said.
She said that the relationship of the two countries was not limited to the economic cooperation but was a time-tested relationship based on mutual trust, respect, regional cooperation, and assistance. “Both leaders rightly proclaimed the Pak-China relations as a deep-rooted tree. Pakistan-China relationships are the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy, both committed to regional security and peace,” said Dr Taherani.
