China's Ambassador Sun Weidong is an icon of Pakistan - China friendship

China's Ambassador Sun Weidong is an icon of Pakistan - China friendship

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Friday honoured the outgoing ambassador of China, Sun Weidong with a presentation of a special plaque in recognition of his services to strengthen Pakistan-China relations.

Chairman of the Committee Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, honoured the outgoing ambassador of China to pakistan, sun weidong with a presentation of a special plaque in recognition of his services to CPEC and strengthening pakistan-china `all weather friendship'.

Senator Mushahid Hussain sayed also referred to the contribution of outgoing ambassador's father, who served in the Chinese embassy in Pakistan from 1952-58, saying that their family had served pakistan-china friendship from `generation to generation.'

While commending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Mushahid said there was a complete national consensus on CPEC amongst all the political forces and provinces.

Meanwhile, ambassador sun weidong said Pakistan-China people to people exchanges were already being broadened and more than 200,000 visitors from both countries visited each other in 2016, adding that about 22000 Pakistani students studying in China, including 5000 on official scholarships.

The ambassador further said that rewards of CPEC  is already evident in that it had helped to resolve pakistan's chronic electric power shortage, adding that Pakistan's growth rate was an annual 3.6% but now with cpec underway, it had gone up to 5.3% despite many challenges. Sixty thousand job opportunities have also been created.

Responding to a question of Mehmood Achakzai about the leadership role of China as a peace maker in the region, ambassador sun weidong said peace was like oxygen, fresh air for development and that was why China believes in partnership, dialogue and cooperation in promoting connectivity among countries and all issues left over by history, like kashmir, need to be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, he added.