The Embassy of People Republic of China hosted a grand reception on Tuesday in honor of its new Ambassador to Pakistan, Liu Jain at a local hotel. A large number of political figures, ambassadors, foreign dignitaries and people from different walks of life attended the reception.
In his welcome remarks, newly appointed ambassador said he assumed the charge as ambassador to Pakistan two weeks ago, but his association with Pakistan was not new. He had deep knowledge of Sino-Pak relationship for the last one decade. The Ambassador said that he has started holding meetings with political leadership and bureaucratic figures of Pakistan. As Ambassador, he said, he would make all out efforts to further strengthen and deepen the relations between the two time-tested friendly countries.
The chief guest of the reception was chairman Senate Farooq H Naek, who is also the acting President in the absence of the President Asif Zardari. Other political figures who were present at the event included Deputy Chairman Senate Jan Mohammad Jamali, Chief of PML (Q) Chaudhary Sujjad, Minister for Interior Rehman Malik, SAFRON Minister Najmuddin Khan, Minister for Housing and Works Rehmat Ullah Kakar, Minister for Sports Pir Aftab Jilani, Health Minister Makhdoon Shahabuddin, Minister for Industries and Production Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani, former Minister for Information Nisar A Memon, former Foreign Minister Sahibzada Yaqub Khan.
Diplomats of different countries including France, Tajikistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, Korea and Saudi Arabia attended the reception. In a sideline interaction, Tajikistan Ambassador indicated to Business Recorder that their President would soon be visiting Pakistan to further strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries. He also mentioned about the recently held Pakistani businessmen forum at Dushanbe, terming it a great success in introducing Pakistani products in his country. The Chinese ambassador assured the media to provide relevant information required to media.
In the history of Chinese embassy in Pakistan, it happened for the first time that Chinese embassy expressed desire to interact with Pakistani media directly. To have close relationship with Pakistani media they hired the services of Askar Tursun who was appointed as first secretary. Talking to Business Recorder, Minister for Housing and Works Rehmat Ullah Kakar denied the impression that there was any clash between state minister for housing and works and him. He described it merely a media trial.