KP, Switzerland sign MoU to promote religious tourism

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday signed an agreement with the government of Switzerland to promote religious tourism in the province.
The agreement was signed following Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Pakistan and Switzerland to open new avenues of cooperation in museum sector through capacity building of museum experts, arranging exchange visits and conducting joint research programmes.
Under the agreement signed by Rietberg Museum Director Albert Lutz and Secretary Tourism and Museum Muhammad Tariq in a ceremony, Switzerland will provide Rs 20 million as insurance for taking giant sized Buddha statue from Peshawar Museum to exhibition in Rietberg Museum Zurich for three months and 18 days.
Speaking on the occasion, the secretary said that the KP government had signed the agreement under an MoU between Pakistan and Switzerland to enhance cooperation between both the countries in the museum sector.
He said the agreement would help promote tourism industry to project soft image of the province. He said that the KP was the first ever province of the country to have agreement with Switzerland for promoting religious tourism and attracting more tourists to the province. He said that statute would attract a large number of visitors in exhibition for its colossal size.
He said the memorandum would provide an adequate framework for future institutional co-operation between the museums of Pakistan and Rietberg Museum in the areas of capacity building, joint research programmes, publications, scholarships for doctoral and post-doctoral research for professionals and young scholars of Pakistan in the universities of Switzerland.
He added it would also promote exchange visits between museum experts of both countries, museum-related seminars, discussion programmes and other activities.