Islamabad: Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh along with Additional Secretary Maritime Affairs, embarked on a significant three-day visit to Gwadar on Friday.

Upon arrival, they were warmly received by Chairman Gwadar Port Pasand Khan Baldi, CEO of China Overseas Port Holding Company Limited, Yu Bu and other distinguished officials from GPA and China.

The minister’s first day in Gwadar was filled with engagements, starting with chairing a meeting at GPA head office, where senior officials from Chinese and Gwadar Port Authority discussed various matters.

Chairman Gwadar Port Passand Khan Buledi gave insights into the ongoing development projects at Gwadar Port, followed by a detailed briefing from Chairman COPHC about the Port’s operations and recent developments The minister also visited the Free Zone, including a visit to the newly constructed 1.2 MGD Desalination Plant, showing keen interest in the infrastructure developments. Expressing satisfaction, the Minister commended the progress of ongoing works in Gwadar.

Islamabad: A delegation of Syrian Government officials, led by Deputy Minister of Education and Educational Affairs Dr. Rami Waheed Al-Dhulli, held a meeting with the senior management of Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan at the HEC Secretariat on Friday.

According to a statement, the two sides discussed in detail the issues of mutual interest, aiming to explore the potential areas for bilateral collaboration. In his welcome remarks, Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed informed the delegates that HEC was established in 2002 with the target of improving access, relevance, and quality.

He said the government focused on investments in the higher education sector in the past 22 years, paving the way for a number of universities to secure international recognition. He said HEC invests almost 40 percent of its funds on human resource development, adding that HEC has so far awarded around 300,000 local and foreign scholarships to Pakistani students.

“HEC is open to extend all possible support to the Syrian higher education institutions, be it policy formulation, capacity building of faculty, skill development initiatives, Information Technology, and other areas,” the chairman said.

The delegation head, Dr. Rami Waheed Al-Dhulli, expressed his gratitude to HEC management for offering support to Syrian higher education sector open-heartedly. He said Syria would like to develop bilateral academic and research relations between the higher education institutions

on the two sides. He observed that the two sides may collaborate in multiple areas, including professional education, IT, entrepreneurship, technology, and modern teaching methods.

Ambassador of Syria to Pakistan Dr. Ramez Alraee said Pakistan and Syria share a long history of relations which goes beyond political interests, adding that Syria endears Pakistan as a brotherly Islamic country. The history, he noted, testifies that the two countries have been standing by each other in odd times and extended assistance in trials like earthquakes.

He emphasised that Pakistan and Syria must jointly work on building economic, educational, and cultural bonds for the benefit of people on both sides. The Syrian delegation will visit different universities in the country.

The objective of their visit is to get introduced to the education sector in Pakistan and seek opportunities of collaboration related to virtual learning, teaching mechanisms, scientific skills and skills proficiency of students and teachers in the filed of Information and Technology, technology based educational projects, and exploring avenues for bilateral scientific and cultural cooperation.

The Syrian dignitaries included Director IT, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Syria, Dr. Manal Sulaiman Saqr; Director Scientific Research, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Syria, Yaseer Saeed Khadra; Director International Cooperation, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Syria, Dr. Aqil Saeed Mahfoud; Director IT, Ministry of Education, Syria, Najeeb Suhail Salaq; Education Director, Ministry of Education, Syria, Ragib Ali Al-Jidi; and Consular/DHM Embassy of Pakistan, Damascus Umer Hayat Khan. Aside from HEC senior officers, the meeting was attended by representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Federal Education and Professional Training.

Lahore: Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif met WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy in which it was agreed to hold a collaboration for the provision of better health facilities in the province.

Dr Hanan Balkhy congratulated CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif on being elected as the first woman Chief Minister of Punjab. The Chief Minister felicitated Dr Hanan Balkhy on assuming the office of WHO Regional Director.

The CM lauded the services of Dr Hanan Balkhy rendered in the health sector especially with regard to controlling infection among the people.CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif said,'' The Punjab government will provide complete cooperation and assistance to WHO to ensure prevention from diseases and their treatment.

Bringing reforms in the health sector is our foremost priority.32 field hospitals have been functionalized for the rural people in the province and we will accomplish our target to establish state of the art hospitals in every district within the next 05 years."

Dr Hanan Balkhy said that undertaking timely measures are highly essential in order to save the people inhabiting far-flung areas from infectious diseases.

WHO will provide complete cooperation and assistance for the provision of timely health facilities in case of arising natural calamity emergency situation, she added.