Dalian and Gwadar termed ‘sister cities’

Senate chairman visits Chinese port city and stresses on mutual cooperation

ISLAMABAD: In an unusual development, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has proposed that a Chinese city be declared as a ‘sister city’ to Gwadar, says a press release from Senate chairman’s office on Sunday. Gwadar and Dalian, a major city and seaport in Liaoning, the southern province of China, should be made ‘sister cities’ with Gwadar keeping in view the commonalities in the two cities and bond of friendship between Pakistan and China.

As part of his recent visit, Senate chairman while heading the parliamentary delegation reached Dalian via train where he visited Urban Planning Exhibition, harbour and port business building, it added.

Sanjrani also visited Poverty-alleviation project, Dalian new port in the afternoon and later on attended a dinner hosted by the Leaders of Dalian city.

In a meeting with Xia Deren, Chairman of Liaoning Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Sanjrani said he has witnessed remarkable development and economic progress in domains of public and national life in China.
He said in Beijing he has had very candid and fruitful discussion with National People’s Congress (NPC) chairman, CPPC chairman as well as the foreign minister.
China and Pakistan are actively engaged at level of central governments, he said, but he believes that there is huge potential for cooperation among provinces, cities and regions of both the countries.
Dalian has a significant history of being financial, shipping and logistics centre for Northern Asia, he added.

The Chinese leader appreciated young leadership of Senate chairman and praised his dressing. The Senate chairman along with members of the delegation had put on the national dress-shalwar kameez during the visit.

Sanjrani said Gwadar is future of Pakistan and expected to become hub of economic activities for the whole region.
Gwadar and Dalian have huge potential for future cooperation and we are eager to learn from the experience of Dalian in area of trade and shipment, the senate chairman stressed.
Moreover, it has immense experience in industrialisation, and development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Pakistan can benefit from this while developing SEZs and hi-tech industry to take China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to the next level, he added.

The Senate chairman said Gwadar is the gateway of CPEC, which is why it is witnessing the most rapid development, positively transforming the lives of people of Balochistan and on the way of becoming hub of regional transshipment.
He was of the view that both the sides can also cooperate in education sector through scholarship exchanges and research in different specialties like maritime studies, medicine, finance, economics and science and technology.

During his visit the chairman reiterated that for Pakistan China’s rise is a source of regional and global stability.
He said the emerging regional scenario calls for indigenous solutions to the issues being faced by Asia and China can play a major role in overcoming the hurdles hampering regional development.

Enhanced interaction between different institutions, academia and think tanks would further enhance the mutual trust and understanding.

There is need to explore new vistas of cooperation and both the countries should engage in constructive discussions to reduce trade imbalance, he added.