ISLAMABAD, Nov 20: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Lu Shulin has said that his country is looking forward to the forthcoming visit of President Gen Pervez Musharraf to China, and hoped that the visit will open new avenues of cooperation and friendship between the two countries.

The ambassador said this during his meeting with Federal Minister for Science and Technology Prof Atta-ur-Rahman here on Tuesday.

According to a press release, some projects of the ministry of science and technology, which are likely to come up for negotiations during President Musharraf‘s visit to China, were discussed during the meeting.

The issues, like acquisition of oceanographic research vessel for survey of continental shelf, supply of power turbines by China to Pakistan, grant of Chinese scholarships to Pakistani scholars for higher education in S&T, placement of communication satellite at the slot available to Pakistan, optical fibre manufacturing, joint collaboration in information technology, particularly software development, also came under discussion.