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Thursday March 28, 2024

‘China to assist Pakistan, countries part of BRI’

By Saleh Zaafir
November 27, 2021
‘China to assist Pakistan, countries part of BRI’

ISLAMABAD: China expressed its desire to continue to assist Pakistan and countries part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in human resource development and industrial growth as key elements of overall economic progress, Chinese official said on Thursday.

Top Chinese diplomat, Chen Mingming said this while delivering his inaugural lecture at the first session of a 14-day seminar on ‘Construction and Operation of Industrial Parks under the BRI’.

The seminar was organised by the Academy for Int’l Business Officials (AIBO) of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The government officials from the BRI nations, including Pakistan, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Ethiopia and Nigeria are participating in the extensive online training sessions.

As per the schedule, prominent Chinese experts will speak on the topics, including industrial growth and human resource development as well as the operational management of industrial parks for optimum growth.

“Unfortunately, young people in developing countries, including Pakistan, have not been fully empowered through skill and knowledge,” Chen said, adding that the youth in these countries have not been trained in modern technologies and have less access to skill development resources. The diplomat said that China is ready to help the BRI nations to bridge this gap by establishing vocational training institutes to enhance access to technical education for the youth.

Capacity building is a key to industrial and overall economic growth, which is the most important area of cooperation among the development partners, he added. The diplomat further said that China is a reliable development partner, advising the participants to focus on the production of environment-friendly energy in their countries for the sustainable gro-

wth.

He pledged that China would support every effort in this regard. “China will always be with you in building and operating industrial parks. Together, we may achieve more for our nations,” Chen assured the participants. He said that Chinese companies in various partner countries were training local youth by employing them in the industrial parks. Zhou Mi, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Int’l Trade and Economic Cooperation, in his lecture shed light on new trends in the international economic cooperation in the post-Covid-19 era. He mentioned the steps taken by the Chinese government to curb the spread of coronavirus both at home and globally, including the provision of Covid-19 vaccines to numerous countries in the world.

He exposed the baseless propaganda carried out by the western media against China in this regard. He also pointed out the US interference in the internal affairs of Cuba and other nations and reminded of the rifts and conflicts created by the country’s politicians in the US society. Out of the four regions, the Global Peace Index 2021 indicated the US as the most deteriorated region on its Peace Index, he added.