Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Friday said that Pakistan and China are "iron brothers" and the friendship between the two countries crossed new thresholds in the past four years and culminated in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Inaugurating China-Pakistan Study Centre (CPSC) at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) along with Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong, the Advisor said that Pakistan and China enjoy brotherly ties and history bears testimony to the fact that the great friendship has stood the tests of time and has moved from strength to strength under successive generations of leaders of both the countries. But in the past four years, it is crossed new thresholds and culminated in CPEC, he added.
"This strategic co-operative partnership must also include enhanced, pragmatic and meaningful cooperation in research, academia and science and technology", he said, adding there was a need in this context to link Pakistani think-tanks with their counterparts in China.He said that the linkages would help in promoting better understanding of the vision of the two countries and focusing on complementarities between the peoples of Pakistan and China.
He expressed the confidence that the timely initiative of establishing the centre will provide the policy makers and intelligentsia the key resources to fully understand contours of bilateral relations between Pakistan and China and also provide opportunities to explore and expand cooperation.
He said that think tanks are the nerve centres for pursuance of research projects and scholarly exchange, and highlighted the role of think tanks and research institutes in providing vision, guidelines and knowledge creation.
According to him, China''s rise and economic pre-eminence is creating a new, economically prosperous and vibrant region, adding we in the region are fortunate to be at the centre of these dynamic changes.
"Together we must employ our academic and research resources to promote regional connectivity, trade, cultural, economic and people-to-people linkages, to create sustainable development and prosperity", he added. In the context of the far reaching Belt and Road Initiative and its flagship project: China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he hoped that the China-Pakistan Study Centre would prove to be a milestone for promoting academic exchanges and linking up think-tanks of both countries.Ambassador Sun Weidong, in his remarks, said that the centre is the latest outcome of the close cooperation between China and Pakistan. With this initiative, he added that the level of interest in China Studies at ISSI has reached a brand new level.
He said that China''s example of becoming the second largest economy in the world through perseverance and hard work has been exemplary. He elaborated that there were three reasons of this rapid development of China which are the dependable leadership of the Communist party of China, respecting the sovereignty of other nations and hard work of the Chinese people. He mentioned how CPEC being the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative will further cement the ties between Pakistan and China.
He pledged that the Chinese embassy will continue to extend its complete support for CPSC and ISSI for furthering China-Pakistan friendship. "These two countries are all-weather friends and shall continue to enhance cooperation to take their partnership to new heights", he emphasized. Ambassador Khalid Mahmood, the chairman ISSI, in his welcoming remarks said that the inauguration of CPSC at the ISSI, symbolizes the ever-green friendship of the two countries. Since the establishment of ISSI in 1973, he said it has advised successive governments on various matters of strategic significance. Likewise, CPSC as an integral part of the Institute will also conduct similar efforts in this regard, he added.