"Rich cultural traditions inculcate ingenuity and innovation into Pakistan's cultural life", said Ambassador Masood Khan on Friday.

The government has taken a series of initiatives to preserve Pakistan's cultural and folk heritage, he said adding that the private sector has also taken steps, through theatres, art galleries and exhibitions to portray Pakistan's millennia-old traditions.

He said that Pakistan's Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, was a replica of Lahore Fort, which symbolizes Pakistan's antiquity as well as modernity.

The theme of our Pavilion, Ambassador Khan said was" Unity in Diversity".

He said these days more media networks in Pakistan are focusing on culture and the media has not confined itself to political events and news.

"We are always impressed by China's encouragement to neighbouring countries to interact with ethnic minorities", replied Ambassador Masood Khan when asked about prospects of cooperation and exchange between Pakistan's and China's ethnic minorities.

Xinjiang, he said for instance, borders eight countries and Pakistan is one of them, so naturally we take interest in this region and its rich ethnic composition.

He said in 2009, he visited Urumqi to sign a Xinjiang-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa agreement to promote economic, commercial, scientific and technological as well as cultural relations.

"We have also tried to foster closer ties between Xinjiang and its contiguous Pakistani region of Gilgit-Baltistan", he said.