Ambassador Brigitta Blaha welcomed to the Austrian National Day reception at her residence last week, ahead of the actual date, which is Oct 26. Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan was invited as chief guest.

In their speeches, the ambassador and the chief guest both underlined the cordial cooperation between the countries in a range of fields.

Ambassador Blaha spoke about an important development aid project in Haripur, where an institute of applied sciences and technology, thePak-Austrian Fachhochschule, will be established.

She also drew attention to other cooperation in education and culture, evidenced at the festive evening with three musicians from Austria playing the two countries’ national anthems and entertaining with other music during the evening.

Ambassador Blaha said that it would be a pleasant farewell tour for her to travel with the musicians to other major cities. Her term in Pakistan ends shortly and she will return to Vienna after four most rewarding years in Pakistan, she said.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2018