President Mamnoon Hussain terms China and Pakistan as “Iron Brothers”

Islamabad : President Mamnoon Hussain has lauded Pakistan-China friendship and said that “we are iron brothers” which have an all-weather friendship.  He was speaking as Chief Guest at the launching ceremony of the book, “The Governance of China” by Chinese President, Xi Jinping, here at Pak-China Friendship Center. The ceremony, which was first official book launching ceremony in Asia, was jointly organized by the Pakistan-China Institute and the Embassy of China in Pakistan.

In his welcome remarks, Senator Mushahid Hussain, the Chairman of the Pakistan China Institute, said that Pakistan can learn a lot from the Chinese model of governance which has delivered stability and prosperity to China, raising 500 million people out of poverty within a generation and China is now the world’s second biggest economy.

Referring to the book of President Xi Jinping, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that this book had introduced the notion of “Chinese Dream” which meant working for a better tomorrow for the Chinese people as well as a close partnership with neighbouring countries like Pakistan through the Central Asian Economic Belt and the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor.

Senator Mushahid also announced that the Urdu translation of the book would soon be published in Pakistan.

In his speech, Ambassador Sun Weidong of China said that this book had provided important guidelines for China by the new leadership led by President Xi Jinping who had introduced the concept of rule of law, accountability and reform. He also expressed China’s grief and solidarity with the families of the martyrs of Peshawer school massacre.  The function was also addressed by visiting Chinese Vice Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China, Chen Fengxiang. The audience was also presented with a lecture on the new comprehensive rule of law enacted by the CPC to protect the Chinese people in accordance with the law and constitution.

An interesting feature of this unique function which had a standing-room capacity crowd of over 350 persons at the Pakistan China Friendship Center, was that for the first time in a Presidential function, the private media was also allowed to freely perform their professional duties.

The ceremony was well attended by a cross section of parliamentarians, civil society, media and the military. Among those present were Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, Leader of the House in Senate,  Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning & Development,  Tariq Fatimi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Deputy Speaker of National Assembly, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Secretary General, PML-N, Sardar Latif Khosa, Secretary General, PPP, Senators Afrasiab Khattak, Sehar Kamran, Farhatullah Babar, Farah Aqil, Qayyum Soomro, Saifullah Bangash and Saeeda Iqbal.

A minute’s silence was also observed to honour the martyrs of Peshawar, and the whole hall stood up for the national anthems of both countries.

At the end of the function, the Chinese Ambassador presented the book by the Chinese President to President Mamnoon Hussain, while Senator Mushahid Hussain made a presentation of the Annual Report of the Pakistan- China Institute to the President of Pakistan, as well as the distinguished Chinese visiting guests while other Pakistani guests were also presented  copies of the book.