President Asif Ali Zardari and Li Changchun, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of Communist Party of China Central Committee, (CPCCC), on Wednesday witnessed signing of a bilateral agreement in the area of economic and technical field and an Executive Programme under the cultural co-operation agreement of the two countries here at Aiwan-e-Sadr with a view to further promoting the existing friendly relations and enhancing the economic, technical and cultural co-operation of the two countries.
Under the Economic and Technical Agreement, China would provide a grant of RMB 70 million Yuan to Pakistan. The Agreement was signed by Vice Chinese Minister Jiang Zengwei and Acting Secretary Economic Affairs Division Iftikhar Rao on behalf of their respective countries. The two countries also signed a 2-year executive programme under the cultural co-operation agreement.
Ms Samina Khalid Ghurki, Minister of National Heritage and Integration, and Chinese Minister of Culture Cai Wu signed the Executive Programme of the Cultural Agreement. Spokesperson to the President, Senator Farhatullah Babar while giving details of the Executive Programme, that spans over two years ie 2013-15, said that the executive programme would lead into greater exchanges of mutual delegations for promoting cultural co-operation and further strengthening historical and cultural ties of the two countries.
Under the Programme, the two sides shall encourage their artists to carry out academic exchange in the field of culture and art. He said that the two sides shall also exchange publication, reports on recent research and development in the field of archaeology, conservation of monuments, archaeological sites and museology.
The Spokesperson said that the Chinese Government under this executive programme would also offer 200 scholarships to Pakistani side annually. He said that the programme will also lead to greater co-operation in areas of broadcasting, films, press, publications, sports and youth. Later, President Asif Ali Zardari and Li Changchun also formally launched the CRI-PBC Dosti channel FM 98 by unveiling the plaque.
It may be recalled that Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and China Radio International had signed a MoU in 2010 during the President's visit to China for promoting cultural linkages. The launch of FM-98 by the two organisations is an important step forward towards increasing people-to-people contacts and forging stronger cultural ties at popular level.