KAS China Country Director, Mr. Thomas Awe's Visit to PCI
Source : Pakistan China Institute Date : 27-05-2015
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The Pakistan-China Institute hosted Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Country Director for China, Mr. Thomas Awe at the PCI office here in Islamabad on 11th May 2015. Besides Senator Mushahid Hussain and Mr. Thomas Awe, KAS country representative, Mr. Ronnie Heine was also present on the occasion.
Chairman PCI, Senator Mushahid Hussain briefed the guests about the initiatives that have been undertaken by the Pakistan-China Institute regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as well as the new joint think tank named ‘Research & Development International’. Mr. Awe and the Chairman also highlighted mutual areas of interest where KAS and PCI can explore opportunities for cooperation. These areas primarily relate to the security and foreign policy, media, and issues relating to the socio-economic development and rule of law in Pakistan.
The Senator highlighted that Germany and Pakistan can also look into partnerships on areas such as infrastructure development in relation to Gwadar and the development of energy projects, where Pakistan can gain tremendously by following the German example of setting up clean energy ventures. The Senator opined that Germany, Pakistan and China could also collaborate on themes relating to governance matters and elimination of corruption. The problems of corruption, governance and law and order, he said, are common to Pakistan and China, and they can learn important lessons from the German experience in overcoming these issue.
Deliberating on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Senator Mushahid Hussain emphasized that the economic corridor must be supplemented by an ‘information corridor’ that would include new literature, in both English and Chinese, to provide information regarding the developments. The new join think-tank, Research & Development International, in collaboration with Tsinghua University and Professor Li Xiguang, would take the initiative of establishing this corridor.“Although we do not possess a lot of resources, we can still make a difference. The advantages that think tanks have is that they can lead with ideas and initiatives,” said the Senator.
Mr. Thomas Awe underlined the importance of establishing a forum where people from the three countries could come together and explore each other’s respective culture and traditions to create room for coexisting in peace and harmony. He also agreed with the Senator’s idea to establish an ‘information corridor’ through which people may be informed of developments on projects of critical importance in the region. Mr. Awe also avowed that there should be a ‘pooling of think tanks’ in Asia, so that all the related experts can come together and debate the course of future direction. He stressed that instead of working independently, similar think tanks should collaborate on issues of mutual interest and collectively explore these areas.
Mr. Awe also expressed satisfaction over the work of PCI and KAS and highlighted that unlike other mainstream think tanks, these think tanks are not only focusing on political issues, but are also deeply engaged in promoting the cultural aspects of their countries too.
The institutions agreed to work together and extend cooperation.