Envoy hosts German-Pakistan Alumni Network

Islamabad : The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bernhard Schlagheck, hosted a reception for the ‘German-Pakistan Alumni Network’ at his residence Saturday. Over a 100 alumni attended the reception.

The event was organised by the Cultural Section of the German Embassy with an objective to maintain and strengthen the ties between former German scholarship holders from Pakistan and the German Embassy.

The participants of Saturday’s reception had had visited Germany on different scholarship programs like DAAD scholarship, Alexander von Humboldt scholarship, Cross Culture Program scholarship and others. All of them have spent various spans of time in Germany either for studies, research or professional trainings.

Among them also were those who had subject-related short-term trips to Germany offered by the

German Federal Foreign Office as well as German language teachers who attended trainings in Germany funded by Goethe-Institut took part in the alumni meeting.

Bernhard Schlagheck, the German envoy, welcomed the guests to his residence in the Embassy compound. In his opening remarks Mr Schlagheck underlined the importance of ‘people-to-people’ contacts and exchange between the civil societies of Germany and Pakistan. Afterwards, representatives of the different scholarship programs shared their experiences gained during their stay in Germany.

As part of the event, the German organisation GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale

Zusammenarbeit) gave an insight into their activities in Pakistan in the renewable energy sector and on climate change during an interactive panel discussion with representatives from the Pakistani government and the private sector.

More and more Pakistanis are interested in studying or doing research in Germany, so the German Pakistan Alumni Network is constantly growing. Currently, more than 4,000 Pakistani students are studying in Germany. They are attracted by high quality education and a conducive research environment.

With its exchange programs, the German government supports students, scholars and professionals to gain experience in Germany, advance their career and broaden their horizon on a professional, cultural and personal level.