7th forum on China-Pakistan scientific, technological & economic cooperation held

The 7th forum on China-Pakistan scientific, technological & economic cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was held by the Pakistan Study Centre at Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU) on Wednesday. The scientific, technological and economic cooperation between China and Pakistan has continuously injected new impetus into the closer China-Pakistan community of a shared future.

In his welcoming speech, Liu Minhua, Vice President of BTBU, highlighted that the university attaches great importance to cooperation with Pakistani universities, scientific and technological organisations and other institutions, and continues to promote the exchanges between China and Pakistan in various fields. “BTBU will take the initiative to serve Chinese high-level opening-up, deeply integrate into the construction of the Beijing centre for international exchanges, release the achievements of think tanks, build cultural parks, expand people-to-people exchanges and deepen international cooperation,” he added.

Prof. Wang Qinlin, Counsel (Director General Level), International Cooperation Department, China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), stated that China and Pakistan are brotherly friendly neighbours and all-weather strategic cooperative partners. CAST will implement the spirit of the meeting between the two leaders with concrete actions and continue to work for the building of a China-Pakistan community with a shared future.

Khan Muhammad Wazir, Deputy Scientific Advisor (International Liaison), Ministry of Science and Technology, Pakistan presented the formal institutional mechanism for existing science, technology, and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Prof. Tian Wen, Beijing Association for Science and Technology (BAST) said that BAST actively promotes the BRI science and technology people-to-people exchange, and promotes dialogue and cooperation among science and technology organisations.

Prof. Seyed Komail Tayebi, President, ECO Science Foundation pointed out that ECOSF would continue to work with BTBU to inject vitality into China-Pakistan scientific and technological cooperation.

Chairing the keynote speech session with the topic of China-Pakistan engineer organisations exchange & cooperation, Prof. Manzoor Hussain Soomro, Honourable Professor of BTBU and Advisor to ECOSF underlined that training and mutual recognition of engineers is an important part of scientific, economic and personnel cooperation between China and Pakistan. He said, “Engineering is the engine of all development. Both countries are making joint efforts to promote exchanges and cooperation between engineers.”

During the session, Fang Siping, Director of Secretariat Office, Chinese Society of Engineers, CAST, introduced international mutual recognition of qualified Chinese engineers and engineering competency assessment system; Xu Wei, Secretaries General, Beijing Institute of Engineers, explained the international mutual recognition of engineer qualifications; Engr. Xiao Hua, General Manager of the PKM Project and Chairman of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd, shared his views on promoting in-depth exchanges and integration in the engineering field between China and Pakistan.

Engr Dr Nasir Mahmood Khan, Secretary/Registrar, Pakistan Engineer Council, Prof. Shahbaz Khan, Director and Representative of UNESCO Beijing Office, Mr. Muhammad Ammar, Director, International Cooperation Department, TANG International Education Group, and about 70 experts, scholars and youth representatives were also present.

On the occasion, the book titled ‘In Quest of Knowledge’ which is a compilation of the stories of Pakistani scholars’ during their student days in China, was launched. The Youth Forum themed ‘cooperation on digital development under the BRI’ was also held.