PESHAWAR: The works of around 23 young artists were put on display at Nishtar Hall to promote cause for abolishing hunger, malnutrition and poverty from the world.

The exhibition consisted of art pieces that had qualified in the “We the Peoples, We the Arts” competition, an initiative aimed at promoting the cause of zero hunger through visual art. It has been organised by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Embassy of Switzerland in partnership with the United Nations Information Centre and the Department of Tourism and Culture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to mark the 50th year of SDC’s cooperation with Pakistan.

The five-day exhibition was opened on Tuesday morning at a ceremony by Swiss Ambassador Marc P. George while UN Information Center official Victoria Cammarota, project head of SDC Stefanie Burri and officials of tourism , culture and archaeology department were also were present on the occasion.

The art pieces on display included photographs, visual art and statues depicting the effects of hunger in different creative ways.

Speaking at the function, Ambassador Marc P. George appreciated the efforts of the provincial government in holding the exhibition that highlighted a serious issue.

He said that abolishing hunger and poverty was a challenge that all the countries and organisations needed to fight together. He said that the exhibition highlighted the issue in an apt manner.

Stefanie Burri said that the purpose of the exhibition was to bring forth young talent. He said that it would provide them with exposure at international level too.

Victoria Cammarota said that youth could find solutions to the problems faced by the modern world through their creative genius. That’s why the SDC provided such forums to the youth.

Mushtaq Khan, the managing director of Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that it had been about 50 years since Switzerland was cooperating with Pakistan in different technical and scientific fields. He said that Pakistan stood side by side with Switzerland and UN agencies to abolish hunger and poverty from the world.

Published in Dawn December 21st, 2016