QUETTA: People of Balochistan look towards the start of a new era after Henan and Balochistan provinces entered into a bond of sister provinces, as they can learn from their Chinese brethren to attain economic and industrial revolution, said Home Minister Ziaullah Langove at a seminar here on Wednesday.

“Chinese companies can also benefit from collaboration with the people of Balochistan and a win-win collaboration can be developed further to help build this friendship between the two sister provinces,” the minister added while highlighting the fruits and contributions of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for the well-being and economic uplift of the people.

Pang Chunxue, charge d’affaires at Chinese embassy; Yang Yundong, Chinese consul general in Karachi; Liang Jieyi, director general of the foreign affairs office of the Henan province; Jahanzeb Khan, director general of the provincial disaster management authority, Senator Danesh Kumar and Friends of China Forum (FoCF) chairman Bayazid Kasi also spoke at the seminar, which was held under the aegis of FoCF.

Ms Pang said: “Friendship between China and Pakistan has been part of the DNA of the two peoples.” She acknowledged that Balochistan is an important part of China-Pakistan friendly exchanges and cooperation.

Says people can learn from Henan’s industrial growth; Pang sees friendship part of Pakistani, Chinese people’s ‘DNA’

“We will never forget that in the wake of the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the Pakistani side took out all the tents in reserve and sent them to the quake-hit area in China by military aircraft. [Similarly,] earlier this year, the Chinese navy ship helped to evacuate Pakistani citizens from Sudan to Saudi Arabia.

“As to Balochistan, we will jointly make the Gwadar port a hub of regional connectivity, promote agriculture, industrial cooperation, help to improve the livelihood and skills of local people by providing capacity building programmes, scholarships, solar panels, building basic health units, and creating more jobs,” she vowed.

The Consul General of China in Karachi, Yang Yundong, said the development of sister-province relations between Henan and Balochistan would inject more vitality into the promotion of common prosperity and progress of the two provinces. He said the consulate general of China in Karachi would maintain close communications with people from all walks of life in Balochistan, fully support the exchanges and cooperation between Henan and Balochistan in various fields.

The PDMA DG and the FoCF chairman gave presentations on the Chinese support in the wake of last year’s floods.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2023