President Pervez Musharraf praised the role of China Radio International (CRI) for strengthening the bonds of Sino-Pak friendship through its Urdu service.
In his message on the occasion of 40th anniversary of CRI's Urdu service, he said Chinese and Pakistani media performed extremely well over the years, projecting the common interest of the two countries.
The CRI that started its Urdu Service on August 1, 1966 helped a lot in warming up their co-operative partnership in all spheres of life, he added.
Meanwhile, CRI's Deputy Editor-in-Chief Weigong Ma addressing a ceremony held here to celebrate 40th anniversary of launching of the Urdu service said they attached great importance to their friendship with Pakistan and wished to consolidate it through electronic and print media.
He said the listeners of the Urdu service in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan increased rapidly in the recent years. The Urdu service has been very successful, enhancing understanding and goodwill among the people of the two countries, he added.
Pakistan ambassador in Beijing Salman Bashir who was chief guest at the ceremony held at the CRI headquarters, lauded the role of the Urdu service and said it emerged as an effective mode of communication, bringing the people of the two countries closer to each other.
The CRI presents its programmes in 43 languages for millions of its listeners all over the world. Domestically, China's radio broadcasts reach 93.3 percent of its nearly 1.3 billion population, compared with 88.3 percent in 1998. China has 306 radio stations, with 1,983 radio programmes, which broadcast a total of 22,838 hours a day.