Chinese Students wish to promote Pakistan-Sichuan Tourism and People-to-People Ties

As part of their orientation course, a group of Chinese post-graduate students accompanied by the Vice Director of Sichuan University, Xiu Guangmin, yesterday visited the Consulate General of Pakistan in Chengdu. The students were warmly welcomed by the Consul General Muhammad Mudassir Tipu. The CG underlined that the students play an important role in strengthening social ties and cementing relations between future generations of the countries. He briefed the students about the history of China-Pakistan relations; the impact of CPEC and OBOR on regional development processes; strength of Pakistan’s economy; and deepening of ties between Sichuan and Pakistan.

The Consul General while talking to the students underscored that the students, in order to have first-hand knowledge of Pakistan and to explore breath-taking beauty of Pakistan, may visit Pakistan and travel to different provinces and regions of the country. The CG also walked the students through the photo gallery of the Consulate General and showed students pictures of Pakistan’s major tourist destinations as well as series of photos embodying the history of Pakistan-China relations. The CG also informed the students about Pakistan government’s recent initiative to invite major tourist companies of Sichuan to visit Pakistan and discover the sights and sounds of Pakistan. The students were delighted to hear about the initiative.

The CG briefed the students about the steps that Pakistan’s Consulate was taking to promote Sichuan’s ties with Pakistan including: (a) higher inflow of students from Pakistan studying in universities of Sichuan (b) recent increase in exports of Pakistan to Sichuan area, (c) Pakistan’s efforts to sell its world-class dental products in West of China, (d) on-going efforts to open Pakistan Centre in the Chengdu Development High-Tech Zone, (e) deepening of ties between think-tanks, (f) higher exchange of visits between trade delegations, (f) further co-operation in co-production of JF-17 Thunder between Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation of China, and (g) strengthening of Lahore-Chengdu sister-city ties, to name a few.

The students thanked the Consul General for inviting the sophomores to the Pakistani Mission and lauded efforts of the Pakistan government in strengthening Pakistan’s relations with the South-West of China. The students expressed keen interest in visiting Pakistan as their next tourist destination and hoped that they could learn Urdu Language and have exchange programs with the Pakistani universities. They also wished that direct flights could start between Pakistan and Chengdu which could greatly ease travel between Pakistan and Sichuan and help attract tourists, traders, and industrialists from both countries.