Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations held at NUST

Islamabad: As part of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, a China Photo Exhibition was held at National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) here on Monday. The photos depicted China’s great progress over the past four decades of reforms and Open Door Policy to the outside world.

The Chinese Studies Centre (CSC) at NUST School of Social Sciences & Humanities (S3H) in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad organised the event. Yao Jing, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Islamabad was the chief guest at the occasion. Lt Gen (r) Naweed Zaman, HI(M), rector NUST, welcomed the Chinese Ambassador and other guests to the ceremony, and spoke high of the friendship between Pakistan and China, which he said was all-weather and time-tested. Mentioning the longstanding bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the higher education sector, the Rector said that NUST, over the past few years, has worked out plans and initiatives in partnership with Chinese HEIs to harness the opportunities from the “Belt & Road Initiative” and “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.” He maintained that NUST also had the privilege to hold the first Beijing Forum outside of China at its premises in May 2016.

Ambassador Yao Jing thanked NUST for organising the event and the get-together of the alumni from Chinese HEIs. He recalled his long association with NUST and expressed his desire to promote closer linkages to promote the mission objectives of Belt & Road Initiative of which the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is the Flagship Project.

He reiterated the readiness of the Chinese government to promote all-round cooperation with Pakistan, particularly in sharing its experiences in Special Economic Zones, Industrialization, Agriculture uplift and social sector to include Poverty Alleviation, Health, Higher Education and Vocational/Training sectors in addition to ongoing cooperation to modernize Pakistan’s infrastructure and develop energy resources.