Time ripe to revive ancient silk route: Pak envoy

BEIJING—Ambassador Masood Khan has said that he believed that the ancient Silk routes can be revived and the time was ripe for taking that step. “I also believe that the strong Pakistan-China relationship provides an ideal platform to launch modern silk routes”, said Khan in a keynote address on “Reviving the Great Silk Roads: Role of China and Pakistan as Ambassadors of Peace” here at the Tsinghua University the other day.
Pakistan and China are very close friends, Khan said adding “We are recognized as all-weather and time-tested friends. Our relations are cited as a model for state-to-state relations between different political systems. We have built this ideal relationship in the past five decades; but the fault lines of our ties run deeper in history and geography”.
Expressing thanks to Professor Li Xiguang, Executive Dean of School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University for inviting him to address an august gathering, Ambassador Khan said that “From ancient times, our two lands have been at the cross-roads of multiple silk routes. The vast network of trade routes dating back to the Han dynasty in 114 B.C and before originated from China and passed through South, Central and South West Asia to connect this part of the world with the Mediterranean region, Africa and Europe.”
He pointed out that western China, Pakistan and Afghanistan constituted the intersection of the silk routes. “Of course, silk was sold along these routes; but trade in other fabrics, perfumes, medicines, spices, and porcelain also flourished”, he noted.
This network of routes helped humanity cross national and geographic frontiers; promote commerce; and connect people, regions, and cultures. These were also history’s earliest corridors for dissemination and transfer of technology, as pilgrims, traders, missionaries, nomads, and soldiers traversed the regions of Pakistan, the Hindukush, and the Oxus Valley.
Today, if we look at the region from above, the Pamirs bind Pakistan, China and Afghanistan in one majestic knot. The peaks and plateaus of this region form an international peace park, full of hope, purity and serenity.
He said that we should work together to ensure that the spirit of the Pamirs descends on our lands and makes them a busy and benign hub of commerce and culture. The Pakistani Ambassador said “It is so much easier to achieve this goal today than it was two millenniums ago”. We do not have to start from scratch, Khan said adding China’s influence in this region, and in other parts of the world, has been benevolent. China, he said has proven empirically that it is a reliable partner and that it efficiently accomplishes the projects it starts in the developing countries. “The countries in this region, including Pakistan and Afghanistan, have fully reciprocated China’s goodwill and commitment”, he observed.
Khan said that this seat of learning has produced numerous leaders of national, international caliber, scientists, engineers and IT specialists. The light and knowledge spread out from Tsinghua University is guiding hundreds of scientific, technological, and communication institutions in China and abroad.
The Ukrainian Ambassador in Pakistan Mr. Ihar Pasko Tuesday called on Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour. During the meeting with the Minister Railways, he Ukrainian Ambassador discussed with him the issues of mutual interests in the backdrop of extending cooperation and business in Railway sector between the two countries.
The Minister for Railways briefed Mr. Ihar Pasko about on-going development in Railways Sector including the preliminary work on Chaman-Qandhar section and Peshawar-Jalalabad sections. He claimed that establishment of rail link with Afghanistan, Pakistan may provide an easy access to Central Asia Russia and rest of Europe.

—Agencies.