ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: About 300 Pakistani youths belonging to the beneficiary families of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) would be provided scholarships worth $100,000 by the China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD) to participate in three-month vocational training courses under the ‘Waseela-e-Rozgar’ initiative.

Chairperson Benazir Income Support Pogramme (BISP) Farzana Raja and Secretary General China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD) Dr Xu Zhensui signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard in Beijing on Tuesday. Ambassador of Pakistan to China Masood Khan was also present on the occasion, says a press release issued by the BISP.

The MoU was signed following a series of negotiations aiming to enhance friendship and exchange programmes between the two countries. The MoU also envisaged that both the countries would carry out the programme of ‘China-Pakistan Friendship Scholarship’ in Pakistan.

The three-month training progamme will commence in Islamabad in September and continue till the end of the year. A Chinese delegation will visit Pakistan soon in connection with the training programme.

Ms Farzana Raja and Dr Xu Zhensui decided during the meeting that the Chinese corporations working in Pakistan should be urged to provide employment opportunities to the youths trained by the BISP in collaboration with the CFPD.

Dr Xu Zhensui lauded the initiative taken by the BISP for the betterment of the underprivileged people of Pakistan.

Farzana Raja expressed her gratitude to the CFPD for confidence it had reposed in BISP and provided assistance in training the underprivileged youths of Pakistan. She hoped that the MoU would be the beginning of a long-term cooperation and collaboration between the BISP and the CFPD.

CFPD is a non-governmental organisation that focuses the promotion of education, healthcare and poverty alleviation.