The Pakistan Embassy here organised a Fundraiser Bazaar in Chancery on Saturday collected an amount of over 300,000 Yuan (Rs 3 million) for the victims of May 12 devastating earthquake that hit Sichuan province of China. The event was one of the efforts to contribute towards the relief assistance extended by the Government of Pakistan for the quake affected people of south-western China.
The amount was generated by donations and money raised through various stalls including pledges made on the occasion. The proceeds will be sent to the quake victims through the Chinese Foreign Ministry. A large number of Pakistanis including businessmen, students, media and Chinese officials, business representatives, think tanks, professors from different universities and members of the diplomatic corps attended the Bazaar.
Yang Jian of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, representing the wife of the Chinese Foreign Minister, addressed the occasion and expressed gratitude of the Government and people of China to the Government of Pakistan for extending relief assistance and to the Pakistan Embassy for holding the event.
She appreciated Pakistan's the gesture for providing tents from its strategic reserves and termed it a genuine expression of all weather Pakistan-China friendship. The Charge d' Affairs of Pakistan Embassy, Abdul Salik Khan reaffirmed the sentiments of sympathy, support and solidarity of the Pakistani people and leadership for the people of China at this hour of need. Khan also observed that primary objective of the Bazaar was to collect money for the assistance of quake affectees.
He thanked the China-based representatives of the Habib Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, United Bank and PIA for their generous donations for the Bazaar. The wife of Pakistan's Ambassador to China and the Foreign Secretary Taranum Salman Bashir in her address, referred to the prompt assistance and support provided by China to the earthquake affected people of Pakistan in October 2005.
She pointed out that people and Government of Pakistan stood by their Chinese friends in meeting the challenges arising from the earthquake. Further, she also thanked the representatives of the Chinese entrepreneurs for their donations. Earlier, one-minute silence and candles were lit memory of those who lost their lives in the earthquake.