KARACHI, April 22: Over 600 Pakistani students are studying at various universities in China and the number is expected to increase further in the near future, the leader of a visiting Chinese delegation said here on Thursday.

The 31-member educational delegation, comprising high-ranking officials from Chinese Ministry of Higher Education and top 20 universities, visited the University of Karachi and also called on its Vice-Chancellor, Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, on Thursday.

The leader of the delegation, Yang Xing Yu, who is the Deputy Secretary-General of China Scholarship Council, said that friendship between the two brotherly countries was based on mutual trust and cooperation in different fields was a model for other countries.

In his meeting with the delegation, which was accompanied by the Chinese Cultural Consul, G U Hongxing, the KU vice-chancellor said that Pakistan and China were already cooperating in the filed of education as well as in social, cultural, economic and many other spheres.

Dr Pirzada, referring to a recent agreement concluded between Islamabad and Beijing, in regard to research and studies in vegetable cultivation in the coastal areas of Pakistan, maintained that the country certainly could benefit from Chinese experiences in agriculture and other sectors.

He pointed out to the visiting academicians and technocrats that the KU was ready to welcome Chinese scientists for conducting post-graduate research and offered them a world-class research environment and facilities.

During the visit, the delegation had a round of different departments of the varsity and met with the faculty and students there. At the Dr Punjwani Centre for Medicines and Drug Research, the delegation was briefed about the International Centre for Chemical Sciences.

The acting director of HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, Dr Iqbal Choudhary, informed the delegation that world class research was being conducted on chemical sciences at the international chemical science centre, HEJ Research institute and Dr Punjwani centre, where a good number of researchers from other countries also came and worked.

The delegation was also given a presentation by a group of students on development support communication campaigns at the Department of Mass Communication. Dr Iftikhar Imam Naqvi, the chairman of the Chemistry department, showed the delegation the well-equipped laboratories and research facilities available at the department.