Remarks by Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs at the Opening Ceremony of China-Pakistan Study Centre at ISSI

June 17,2017

Chairman, Ambassador Khalid Mehmood, 
Excellencies, 
Ladies and Gentlemen, 

I am delighted to attend the Inauguration Ceremony of the China-Pakistan Study Centre at the Institute of Strategic Studies. I believe that this Study Centre will be a promising addition for providing a dynamic platform for scholars of both the countries to jointly pursue research projects on many areas of common interests and further promoting and cementing academic and scholarly exchanges between Pakistan and China. 

Think-tanks and Study centers are the nerve-centers of ideas and policy initiative so necessary for overall development and growth of countries. They provide vision and guidelines to embark on the journey of prosperity and progress. Knowledge creation and innovative research is key to excel in this globalized world. In this regard, The Institute of Strategic Studies has rendered outstanding services in excellent research and interaction on strategic and related issues. 

Pakistan and China are "Iron Brothers". History bears testimony to the fact that this great friendship has stood the tests of time and has moved from strength to strength under successive generations of leaders of both the countries. But in the past four years, it is crossed new thresholds and culminated in CPEC. 

This strategic cooperative partnership must also include enhanced, pragmatic and meaningful cooperation in research, academia and science & technology. There is a need in this context to link Pakistani Think-Tanks with their counterparts in China. These linkages would help in promoting better understanding of the vision of the two countries and focusing on complementarities between the peoples of Pakistan and China. I have a great hope that this institute would also make a major contribution to this objective. 

I am confident that the timely initiative of establishing this center will provide the policy makers and intelligentsia the key resources to fully understand contours of bilateral relations between Pakistan and China and also provide opportunities to explore and expand cooperation. 

It goes without saying that China's rise and economic pre-eminence is creating a new, economically prosperous and vibrant region. We in the region are fortunate to be at the centre of these dynamic changes. Together we must employ our academic and research resources to promote regional connectivity, trade, cultural, economic and people-to-people linkages, to create sustainable development and prosperity. 

In the recently held Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, a full session was dedicated to connectivity of think tanks among the OBOR countries. In my address there, I highlighted the need for closer cooperation among the think tanks for exchange of ideas and the need to come together and pool our intellectual resources. Through knowledge and experience sharing, both countries can learn, grow and progress together in the light of shared vision of common development and shared prosperity. 

In the context of the far reaching Belt and Road Initiative and its flagship project: China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), this Study Centre would prove to be a milestone for promoting academic exchanges and linking up think-tanks of both countries. I hope the centre will attract scholars and research of high quality 

I can say with confidence that under the seasoned chairmanship of Ambassador Khalid Mehmood, the China-Pakistan Study Centre will play a significant role in the domain of academic and scholarly exchanges between two great neighbors and brotherly nations. 

I thank you.