Pakistan and China have signed a number of MoUs in almost all arenas of life and they need to be put into operation without further delay, said Acting President and Chairman Senate Farooq H. Naek in his concluding remarks in the conference on Pak-China Relations.
The conference was organised by Institute of Policy Studies in co-operation with the Institutes of South Asian Studies in Sichuan and Kunming to mark 60th anniversary of Pak-China diplomatic relations. Terming the friendship of both nations as "a symbol of peace and stability in the region and the world" Farooq Naek said, "the two sides have decided to renew the Five Years Development Programme on Trade and Economic Co-operation and have agreed to cooperate in a number of areas."
Referring to over 250 memoranda of understanding between the governments of two countries he said, "these agreements demand implementation mechanism and integrated planning." Acting ambassador of China to Pakistan Huan Xilian said that exemplary relationship between Pakistan and China have to be reshaped and strengthened in the wake of recent changes in the regional and global environment, which are 'profound and complex". He said that China has invested more than one billion dollar and contracted more than 120 projects in Pakistan and recently 20 commercial contracts valued at more than $10 billion have been signed.
"China always takes the development of China-Pakistan ties as the priority for our diplomacy and we will continue to do so," the envoy said. Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies Professor Khurshid Ahmad counted the Sino-Pak relations as one of the three most prominent achievements of Pakistan, other two being the 1973 constitution and the nuclear capability.
He said that China has presented a role model for the world in which it has shown in contradiction to hegemonistic West that economy is better nurtured through the tools of respect and peace than the wars and invasions. He said that China has demonstrated a "happy blend of tradition and the modernity" and Pakistan needs to learn from this experience.-PR