Kyrgyz envoy for promoting trade, academic ties

LAHORE:Kyrgyzstan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Erik Beishemhiev has said that CPEC is a golden opportunity to enhance trade volume of the connecting countries manifold, adding Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan can benefit from each other by promoting bilateral relations in academic, trade and cultural areas.

He was addressing a seminar on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Study Programmes at Punjab University (PU) here on Monday.

PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad, Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, Brig (r) Mansoor Saeed, faculty members and a large number of students were present on the occasion.

Beishemhiev said Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan were geographically located on important positions in the region and both can benefit from each other by promoting bilateral relations in academic, trade and cultural areas.

He said Kyrgyzstan could play a role of bridge for Pakistan and Pakistani traders could easily send their 6,000 items to Central Asian markets enjoying several concessions. He said a large number of Pakistani students were studying in Kyrgyzstan’s medical and other universities.

The ambassador said Kyrgyzstan had established many universities in collaboration with other countries just like University of Central Asia in Bishkek which was established in collaboration with Aga Khan Foundation.

He said Kyrgyzstan was rich in tourist destinations and minerals. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent visit to Kyrgyzstan would promote bilateral relations. He also said the government of Kyrgyzstan was interested in signing memorandum of understandings with Pakistani universities for promotion of people to people contact and exchange scientific information.

Prof Niaz Ahmad said promotion of bilateral relations among the universities of both the countries would help learn from research, knowledge and experiences of each other. He stressed the need to expand exchange programmes of faculty members and students in various academic disciplines.

Brig (r) Mansoor Saeed highlighted the importance of Pak-Kyrgyz relations. PU conference: Punjab University’s Centre of Excellence in Solid State Physics organised international conference on solid state physics on Monday.

Addressing the conference, Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad urged the students to develop new ideas to address Pakistan’s issues and convert them into a business opportunity.

He announced that PU administration would fund such projects. He also said such conferences provided an excellent opportunity for new researchers to network with renowned scientists in their fields.

Prof Dr Shahzad Naseem said this was the 4th in series of the solid state physics conferences organised by the centre.

He said there were 17 keynote lectures being delivered by foreign and local experts while around 60 invited talks were being given by researchers from China, Malaysia and Pakistan. According to him a total of over 500 papers would be presented at the conference with around 170 posters.

He said this was an unprecedented number in any of the conferences in Pakistan. Selected papers from the conference will be published by the IF journals associated with the conference, he added.