Eight MoUs signed during Zardari's visit to China

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari's recent visit to China during which the two countries signed eight Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in diverse fields, is a significant step to help the country learn from Chinese model of economic development.

President Zardari during his four-day visit to Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces - China's two most prosperous models of economic development, not only witnessed the signing of MoUs particularly on power generation and agriculture, but also held a series of meetings with China's business giants.

The President invited a Chinese firm to visit Pakistan for coal gasification in Sindh and met Chinese Foreign Minister to discuss a host of bilateral, regional and international issues. Talking to journalists spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said the centre piece of the President's visit was the memorandum of understanding signed particularly the one relating to the building of 7,000 MW hydro power in Bunji in the Northern Areas.

The project will be built on BOOT (build, operate, own and transfer) basis with total foreign investment. The MoU was signed by the Water and Power Ministry of the government of Pakistan and China's Three Gorges Project Corporation that has recently built the world's largest hydropower project in China capable of generating over 22,000 MW and a water reservoir spread overt 650 square kilometers.

During the visit, Pakistan also invited private companies in China engaged in building small and medium dams to bid for the construction of twelve small and medium dams the sites for which have already been identified in the four provinces. Five of the dams will be built in Balochistan, four in Sindh, two each in Punjab and Frontier, he said. A MoU on co-operation in drug regulation and production of hepatitis B and C vaccines was also signed during the visit.

The Sindh Agricultural University (SAU) in Tandojam and the South China Agricultural University (SCAU) in Guangzhou province also signed MoU for co-operation in agricultural research, plant protection and animal husbandry. The President also visited the Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute where another memorandum of understanding was signed for setting up of a model fisheries farm in Pakistan and also to train Pakistani fishermen in the latest techniques.

(BRecorder)

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