Visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in Beijing on Tuesday that Pakistan will firmly support agricultural cooperation under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and hopes the bilateral friendship will yield prosperity, progress and development for generations to come.
Shehbaz made the remarks while addressing the China-Pakistan Agriculture Cooperation Workshop at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) on the final day of his four-day official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
In his speech at the event, Shehbaz highlighted the strong cooperation which already exists between the two sides in the agricultural sector. The Pakistani prime minister recalled his June 2024 official visit to the northwestern Shaanxi Province, a region known for its strength in agriculture, when he announced a plan to send 1,000 Pakistani graduates to Chinese universities for advanced training.
The first two groups of trainees under this initiative have since completed their studies and returned home, and Shehbaz pledged to continue to offer more such exchange programs that can benefit young people.
"I proposed to send 1,000 students, fresh agri-graduates from all the four provinces of Pakistan to Chinese universities for fresher courses and modern training in modern areas of agriculture. We shall continue to build enduring institutional linkages between our universities, scientists, researchers, and young and very able minds, so that the seeds of friendship we saw today may yield prosperity, progress, and shared development for generations to come," he said.
During his visit to CAAS on Tuesday, Shehbaz and his delegation were accompanied by the academy's president Huang Sanwen to learn more about the bilateral cooperation projects taking place between the two countries.
The Pakistani prime minister also interacted with more than 100 Pakistani students studying in China and frontline agricultural workers, calling for stronger application of science and technology to help modernize Pakistan's farming sector.
Several of the students at the event, many of whom have spent the last several years studying in China, voiced their hopes of being able to apply this knowledge back in their home country.
"I really want to thank the Chinese government for this collaboration. And I wish that, due to this visit, they will have more collaborations and projects with China and to facilitate our local farmers in Pakistan," said one student.
"The molecular biology labs, biochemistry labs, bio-informatics technology in China is very advanced. So we need a collaboration between Pakistan and China, and help Pakistan to make such an advanced laboratory in Pakistan," said another.
China has pledged continued support to help more Pakistani agricultural talents to nurture their skills and eventually take these advanced methods back to address some of the farming challenges in their own country.
"The Pakistani government has launched a training program for 1,000 talents. Last year alone, we trained 86 young scholars from Pakistan. Our agricultural science and technology achievements in terms of wheat and other crops, and livestock [breeding] have already been demonstrated and promoted in Pakistan. Looking ahead, we will continue to help Pakistan address its food security and poverty-reduction issues," said Sun Tan, vice president of CAAS.
Pakistani PM hopes China cooperation can bring prosperity to future generations
