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Long live
Pak, China Friendship
Youth urged to play role to boost
Sino-Pak ties
From Max Lee
The Daily Mail’s Special Correspondent in Beijing
 BEIJING—A
35-member Pakistani Youth delegation arrived in Beijing here the other
day for a weeklong visit to China. The visit is a part of the progaramme
of exchanging visits between the youth of Pakistan and China, which
started in 2004.
In the Afternoon, the embassy of Pakistan hosted a luncheon for the
members of the delegation. The reception was also attended by
representatives from the all China Youth Federation and the faculty and
students of the Urdu Departments of Beijing University and the
Communications University of China.
Speaking on the occasion, the Ambassador of Pakistan to China, Mr Salman
Bashir said that such visits were an effective tool for translating
excellent bilateral relations between Pakistan and China at political
level into better mutual understanding and mutual trust at popular
level, especially at the level of the youth. He expressed the hope that
the visits would give an opportunity to the members of the delegation to
interact with Chinese youth and learn from their experiences. The
ambassador thanked All China Youth Federation for hosting the visit.
While address to the youth of both countries, the leader of the
Pakistani Delegation said that youth are the future of any nation, good
education is what makes the future of the nation, it trains the youth to
representative of his country in the future and takes his country
towards prosperity and development. The first motive to inspire us to
study should be the desire to make our country better and people to live
happier.
Other speakers at the occasion included representative of all China
Youth Federation, faculty members and students of the Urdu Departments
of Beijing University and the Communications University of China. The
speakers emphasized the need to further strengthen cultural exchanges
and people-to-people contact between Pakistan and China. They expressed
the hope that in time this mechanism of exchange-visits between the
youth of the two courtiers will pay a pivotal role in carrying forward
and strengthening the excellent traditions of mutual trust, friendship
and cooperation between the governments and people of the two courtiers.
The Delegation will stay in Beijing from 2-4 December, 2005. During
their stay the members of the delegation will visit different
educational institutions and youth enters in Beijing. The Delegation
will also visit Shanghai from 5-9 December, 2005. The Delegation will
return to Pakistan on 9 December, 2005.
Pakistan, China to discuss core issues in
WTO talks
From Javed Akhtar ( APP)
BEIJING—Pakistan and China will be among the major partners,
facilitating negotiations in settling core issues, being faced by the
World Trade Organizations (WTO), said Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce
John Tsang Tsang.
In a statement, he said the issues of some basic nature will come under
discussion at the six-day WTO’s ministerial meeting, being held in Hong
Kong from Dec. 13. Pakistan will be represented at this crucial meeting
by the Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan. Sources told reporters
here Saturday that Pakistan attached great importance to the meeting and
wished to play an active role, protecting the interest of the developing
countries, particularly to ensure access of their agriculture products
in the developed countries. The WTO’s ministerial conference is the
highest decision-making body, meeting at least once every two years and
providing political direction for the organization. This sixth
conference will be vital for enabling the four-year-old Doha Development
Agenda negotiations forward sufficiently to conclude the round in 2006.
John Tsang urged the 148 WTO members to demonstrate their global vision
and individual courage to make a success of the Ministerial Conference.
Tsang assured WTO members that preparations for the ministerial
conference are now complete. He said the conference will not be just an
occasion for stocktaking. “We will be fully engaged in serious
negotiations,” he said. “We will aim to ratchet up the extent and
quality of our convergence, and set the platform for the next stage of
our preparation towards the conclusion of the (Doha) Round by the end of
2006.” Tsang also announced the names of six ministerial colleagues to
help him facilitate negotiations in core areas. They are Pakistan’s
Humayun Khan, Kenya’s Mukhisa Kituyi, South Korea’s Hyun Chong Kim,
Norway’s Jonas Stor, and Chile’s Ignacio Walker. Launched at the Fourth
Ministerial Conference in November 2001, the Doha Development Agenda
includes negotiations on a range of subjects, and work on issues related
to the implementation of agreements arising from previous negotiations
(the 198694 Uruguay Round, which created the WTO). For the negotiations
on agriculture and non-agricultural market access, the next aim is to
agree on formulas and other details that will determine the scale of
reductions in tariffs on thousands of products and on farm subsidies.
42 miners trapped in
another coal mine mishap
BEIJING—At least 42 miners were trapped when a coal mine in central
China’s Henan Province was flooded. Henan Provincial Bureau of Coal
Industry said altogether 48 miners were working underground when the
flooding took place late last night at Sigou Coal Mine in Shisi Township
of Xin’an.
While six miners escaped, rescue workers were trying to locate others
trapped in the coal mine, State media reported. This is the latest major
coal mine mishap hitting China, the world’s largest coal producer.
Meanwhile, the death toll in coal mine blast in northeast China’s
Heilongjiang province rose to 169.
An investigation team sent by the Chinese central government has ordered
immediate shutdown of Dongfeng colliery and police have detained three
mine officials, charging them with mismanagement.—APP |
