BEIJING: Pakistan and China here Wednesday signed a cooperative
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance the friendship and
exchanges between the people of two countries. The MoU was signed by
the Federal Minister and the Chairperson of Benazir Income Support
Programme (BISP) Madame Farzana Raja and Secretary General of China
Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD) Dr. Xu Zhensui. Mr. Masood
Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to China was also present on the occasion.
The
MoU was reached between BISP and CFPD after a series of negotiations,
said a senior official of BISP. The MoU envisages that both the
countries shall carry out the programme of “China-Pakistan Friendship
Scholarship” in Pakistan. The scholarship with a total value of 100,000
US dollars from CFPD will be provided to 200-300 qualified Pakistani
young people belonging to BISP beneficiary families, to help them
attend a 3-month long vocational training course to be arranged by the
BISP under its Waseela e Rozgar initiative.
The trainings will
be carried out in Islamabad from September to December 2011.Formal
agreement/ contract would be signed in Sep 2011 when a delegation of
senior Chinese leaders will visit Pakistan. It was also discussed
during the meeting that Chinese corporation working in Pakistan would
be urged to employ labor trained by BISP in collaboration with CFPD.
Secretary General of the CFPD expressed his appreciation for extensive
work BISP is doing for the betterment of underprivileged people of
Pakistan. He said that his visit to Pakistan was a wonderful
experience. Madame Farzana Raja expressed her gratitude to CFPD for its
confidence in BISP and agreeing to help in training the underprivileged
youth of Pakistan. She also hoped that this MoU would be the start of a
long term cooperation and collaboration between BISP and CFPD.
Pakistani Ambassador to China Mr. Masood Khan was also present.
The
CFPD is a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) that focuses on promotion
of education, health care and poverty alleviation. Dr. Xu led a
delegation to Pakistan from July 9-15, 2011 in which they had a series
of meetings with senior management of BISP.
Earlier, on arrival
while talking to media here, Minister Farzana Raja said that BISP is
playing an important role in elimination of poverty from Pakistan and
added that she is grateful to both the CFPD and China Cultural Heritage
Foundation (CCHF) for extending helps to Pakistan in its endeavor for
social sector development. She said that though it is her first visit
to China yet she considers China her second home. “I have lot of
expectations from this visit”, Madame Raja said adding that she during
her stay will meet a number of senior officials from CFPD, CCHF and
friends from public and private sector organizations and will exchange
views for their cooperation with social sector of Pakistan. Online
