Pakistan and China here Tuesday signed a co-operative Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance the friendship and exchanges between the people of the two countries.
The MoU was signed by the Federal Minister and the Chairperson of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Farzana Raja and Secretary General of China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD) Dr Xu Zhensui Masood Khan, Pakistan's ambassador to China was also present on the occasion, said a press release received from Beijing.
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 three-month long vocational training course to be arranged by the BISP under its Waseela-e-Rozgar initiative.
The training will be carried out in Islamabad from September to December 2011. Formal agreement/ contract would be signed in September 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 labour 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. 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 co-operation and collaboration between BISP and CFPD. Pakistani Ambassador to China Masood Khan was also present on the occasion.
Earlier, 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 endeavour 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", 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 organisations and will exchange views for their co-operation with social sector of Pakistan. The CFPD is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that focuses on promotion of education, health care and poverty alleviation.-PR