On May 26th, Vice President Lin Yi met with the National Management College (NMC) delegation from Pakistan. This is the 39th NMC delegation received by the CPAFFC since 1974. The  delegation consists of senior civil servants from both central and local governments of Pakistan.

Vice President Lin congratulated the NMC on winning the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Friendship Award conferred by President Xi Jinping this April.She briefed the delegation about China Pakistan people-to-people diplomatic work conducted by the CPAFFC, with a special focus on the importance of exchanges at the local government level. She said, since the work of local governments are directly related to the common people, promotion of exchanges between the localities along the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will bring strong impetus to the development of CPEC. Up to now, there are 13 pairs of friendship cities or provinces between China and Pakistan, and we wish more friendship-city/province relations to be established with our joint efforts.

Zia ur Rehman, head of the delegation, gave an introduction of the NMC and the delegation. He thanked the CPAFFC for its support and cooperation with the NMC over the past years. He said, opinions at grassroots level are very important in the policy formation of a country, thus people-to-people exchanges are vital to bilateral relations. The NMC would like to have further cooperation with the CPAFFC to deepen people-to-people exchanges between China and Pakistan.

During the visit in Beijing, the delegation had panel discussions on the “Belt and Road” Initiates with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Academy of Governance, and the China Institute of International Studies, etc.