PM's Beijing visit to cement ties: diplomat
By Our Staff Correspondent
KARACHI, March 30: China hopes that the forthcoming visit of prime minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali to Beijing in connection with the Asian Economic Forum meeting would further consolidate the time-tested friendship between the two countries.
This view was expressed by the Chinese Consul-General Sun Chunye while addressing the Sindh committee of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors. He said that friendship between China and Pakistan was a good example for other nations to emulate and added that economic relations between the two countries had gained a new dimension.
This could be gauged from the fact that bilateral trade turnover, which was $1.8 billion in 2002, had jumped to $2.5 billion in 2003. This year the figure is expected to further increase.
The Chinese consul-general, who lauded Pakistan's one-China policy and support on other issues, said that in order to meet the challenges of WTO, which would become effective in 2005, it was necessary that ties between the two countries should be raised to optimum level.
He also referred to the presence of China's leading trading and manufacturing companies in Pakistan and said that the Gwadar port project, Saindak copper and Thar coal projects, the Karachi- Lahore oil pipeline project and improvement of rolling stocks of the Pakistan Railways were some of the outstanding examples of bilateral economic cooperation.
According to the consul-general, 200 Chinese engineering personnel were stationed in Karachi. Similarly, more than 5,000 Pakistani businessmen were stationed near Shanghai for promoting business.
The Chinese Consul General stressed the need for improving the quality of Pakistani products and said his country was keen to make its contribution to the strengthening of a stable society in Pakistan. CPNE's president Mahmoodul Aziz welcomed the consul-general and assured him of Pakistan's commitment to friendship with China.
http://www.dawn.com/2004/03/31/nat14.htm
IBA urged to create funds for students
KARACHI, March 30: The Senate chairman, Mohammadmian Soomro, on Tuesday advised business schools, especially the Institute of Business Administration, to create endowment funds to provide better remuneration to teachers and financial assistance to needy students.
Speaking at the concluding session of a two-day conference on "Challenges for management, development and education in Pakistan", which was jointly organized by the IBA and the Association of Management Development Institutions in Pakistan, he said: "You need trained, qualified and dedicated teachers to impart quality education to students. If you want to retain good teachers, you have to offer them salaries which are commensurate with their abilities."
Management experts from various Pakistani business schools attended the conference and presented their research papers. Mr Soomro added that in addition to offering attractive pay packages to teachers, business schools should also keep their fee structure affordable.
"Financial autonomy, if achieved by business schools, will enable them to get rid of the intervention of others in their affairs. It will also help them maintain discipline and continue to attach importance to merit," he observed.
Emphasizing the need for greater interaction between various business schools of the country, he noted that it was a good sign that more such institutions were coming up.
Appreciating the efforts of the organizers of the conference, the Senate chairman suggested that such conferences should be held twice a year. He advised the organizers to invite government organizations like the National Institute of Public Administration and the National Defence Programmes.
He pointed out that the abilities and skills of the teaching staff were not evaluated from time to time at state-run educational institutions. He said he was happy to learn that the admission quota of government functionaries in the IBA had been abolished.
The Senate chairman said former students of business schools could extend financial support. He said the main objective of educational institutions and the government should be the development of human resources.
Earlier, the AMDIP chairman, Hasan Sohaib Murad, spoke about the proceedings, objectives and achievements of the conference. He added that the participants gained a lot of experience from the conference.
"We identified issues facing business management schools in the country, discussed their solutions, alternatives and various methodologies to overcome hurdles," he said, adding that faculty motivation, curricula, research methodologies and other issues were discussed in detail.
He said that a South Asian Management Forum would be held in April in Lahore and over 300 business management experts from South Asia would attend it. Faculty and experts associated with local business schools should prepare themselves for it and participate in it, he added.
The IBA director, Danishmand, said the country was facing a shortage of qualified and trained business managers. He added that the IBA would take the emergence of new business schools as a challenge.
He said students were granted admission to the IBA only on merit. He promised that the IBA would continue this practice. The conference manager, Hassan Danish, delivered the concluding address. -Agencies
http://www.dawn.com/2004/03/31/nat19.htm