Islamabad – 23 October 2023 (Adnan Hameed) : Federal Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Jamal Shah said on Monday that his ministry planed to organize a cultural caravan by the end of this year aimed at transcending economic ties and strengthening cultural bonds between Pakistan, China and the Central Asian States. The cultural excursion under the title ‘CPEC Cultural Caravan 2023’ will be composed of diverse groups of Pakistani, Chinese and Central Asian artists, musicians, photographers, anthropologists, writers and filmmakers, he said while addressing an award ceremony for the film Ba’tie Girl held in newly renovated auditorium of Pakistan Embassy College Beijing (PECB).
The minister also gave away Pakistan-China Cultural Exchange Envoy award to Producer of the film, Xie Peng and Pakistan National Award for Outstanding Achievement in Culture to the co-producer of the film. Jamal Shah informed that the caravan would start from Xi’an, China and travel through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, UAE, Oman, Gwadar, Karachi before culminating in Islamabad. CPEC would be documented to reflect upon the land, life and the people along China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Silk Route covering Central Asian countries during the month of December this year, he added. Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque welcomed the minister and appreciated for playing a very strong role to expand cultural cooperation between Pakistan and China. The ambassador also highlighted the ministers’ contributions in promoting art, painting, and especially film Ba’tie, a co-production between the Hunarkada productions and Xie Peng production house. He said that Pakistan and China enjoyed a very special relationship and unique and time-tested friendship which was higher than mountains and deeper than oceans. The cultural cooperation and people to people exchanges were very important to further strengthen friendship between the two countries, he added. He said that Pakistan and China were celebrating year of tourism and expressed the confidence that more and more people come to our countries to discover each other and also promote tourism exchanges. Producer of the film, Xie Peng gave a brief introduction of the movie and said that it was about the empowerment of women and promote friendship between the two countries. The film Ba’tie Girl featuring Pakistan and Chinese artists was also screened on the occasion. Earlier, the minister along with the ambassador, principal of the college inaugurated the auditorium.
Senior diplomats, officials, teachers, media and members of the community were present.
