I am proud to be the pioneer Director/Coordinator of the China Study Centre, University of Peshawar, which formally came into being on 17th October 2016 when Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan His Excellency Sun Weidong visited the University of Peshawar to inaugurate the Centre. In fact, the growing collaboration of between Pakistan and China was necessitating the establishment of such a centre at the University level in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province specially. Its establishment was felt to be need of the time.
The Centre will serve as a think tank, a reservoir of information and a research centre that will arrange talks among experts, disseminate knowledge and foster research on matters of mutual interests between Pakistan and China. Among the initiative to be taken in this direction, my priority will be to further enhance the existing academic collaboration between the two countries.
The worthy Vice-Chancellor supported me in every respect and very kindly agreed to join me in the visit to Northwest University, Xian, China in early June 2017. The visit proved successful more than our expectations. The Northwest University, China agreed to establish Confucius Institute in the University of Peshawar. Under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the University of Peshawar and the Chinese Institutions of higher learning, there will take place exchange visits of scholars, faculty and students that will further boost understanding in terms of bringing the people of the two countries closer.
The Centre will soon launch a program of holding national and international conferences to discuss matters of common interests of the two countries and particularly in the context of emerging scenario at the regional and global level. Bringing out a quality research journal also include in our future framework. It will be a multi-disciplinary journal to focus on diverse issues so as to explore avenues of cooperation between Pakistan and China. A quarterly newsletter will also be published to give coverage to the activities of the Centre.
The Centre will arrange talks by imminent scholars on contemporary issues in Pak-China relations such as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), One Belt One Road (OBOR). The Centre plans to commence Chinese language (Mandarin) classes in response to the growing demand for the same. In view of the support extended by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in general, and the University of Peshawar, in particular, the Centre will hopefully become a significant milestone in enhancing academic collaboration between Pakistan and China. Long Live Pak-China Friendship.