Scholarships offered to Bulgarian students

Islamabad : Ambassador of Bulgaria Irena Gancheva called on Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Hussain here on Wednesday and discussed with him cooperation in education and vocational training.

Senior officials of the ministry, including a representative of the Higher Education Commission, also attended the meeting.

The minister told the visitor that the two countries have always had friendly and cordial relations since 1965 but there was a need for better cooperation and support between them in vocational and technical training sectors.

He said both countries could benefit from each other's experience.

Rana Tanveer welcomed exchange of teachers and students to further mutual cooperation, especially for skilled vocational training.

"Bulgaria has achieved 98 per cent literacy, so we [Pakistan] can learn a lot from its expertise in education sector. At the same time, we are willing to offer scholarships to Bulgarian students to enhance mutual collaboration," he said.

The Bulgarian envoy presented a draft of an MoU to be signed by both governments for future collaboration in the field of education. She said the university-to-university cooperation and technical institution to technical institution collaboration was the way forward.

"The MoUs should be expedited between Pakistani and Bulgarian universities to enhance exchanges," she said.

The minister said the country's future lied in the promotion of vocational training, which provided the people the best employment.

He said Pakistan and Iran through NAVTTC should exchange teachers and students to learn from the expertise of each other.

Mr Hussain praised the current governments efforts in modernising the education system of Pakistan.

The ambassador also expressed interest in enhancing and promoting people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges between the two countries.