The scholars and educationists of Pakistan and China have termed the China-Pakistan friendship as exemplary and said that the relations of both countries will reap the windfalls of their all-weather strategic co-operative partnership as Beijing and Islamabad are on the verge of capitalising on massive opportunities of development to realise common dreams of the two Asian nations.
This was stated by the Chinese & Pakistani scholars at a two-day international conference titled "Pakistan-China strategic partnership & its regional implications" organised by Sindh University's Area Study Centre in Senate Hall of the Ghulam Mustafa Shah Administration Building here on Monday. 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 Economic Corridor and energy sector.
While giving her presidential remarks the Vice Chancellor of Sindh University Dr Abida Taherani said that the recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pakistan with a cooperation deal worth US 46 billion USD, focusing on a broad spectrum of cooperation 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.
Dr Taherani said that the socio-economic development of people of both countries was the common goal in developing China-Pakistan Community of Shared Destiny. "Economy and Security are two important components of Pakistan-China strategic relations. Today, Pakistan has been facing multifarious traditional and non-traditional security challenges. Some of major challenges include the terrorism, economic slowdown and energy crisis", she maintained.
Dr Taherani said that rising China had the potential to help Pakistan through trade and investment adding that China's economy was full of vitality and was going to become the world's largest economy in the coming decade. "The trade volume between China and Pakistan reached to US 15 billion USD in 2015 and both the countries have agreed to elevate trade volume up to US 20 billion USD within next three years. China is on the top of the list of countries having Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan", said Vice Chancellor Dr Abida Taherani adding that China's Foreign Investment inflow during July 2013 to June 2014 was US 695.8 million USD.
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 Silk Road. He said, "While the trade and energy corridor may be 'monumental' for Pakistan, for China it is part of more ambitious plans to beef up the country's global economic muscle.
He describes 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.
The Vice Chancellor opined that both the countries should make full use of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and hold the second round of tax reduction negotiations on the second phase of the FTA. "We should deepen cooperation in the fields of defence, maritime, agriculture, and law enforcement," he added. Regarding China's support for Pakistan in capacity-building of independent development, he declared that China would keep on encouraging Chinese enterprises to invest in Pakistan to promote the economic and social construction of Pakistan. Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Dr Noman Sattar, Chinese scholar Zhu Lingjia, Fazal-ur-Rehman, Dr Hamadullah Kakepoto and others also spoke on the occasion.
The scholars and educationists of Pakistan and China have termed the China-Pakistan friendship as exemplary and said that the relations of both countries will reap the windfalls of their all-weather strategic co-operative partnership as Beijing and Islamabad are on the verge of capitalising on massive opportunities of development to realise common dreams of the two Asian nations.
