ISLAMABAD, Jan 15 (APP):The cooperation between Pakistan and Australia is vigorously developing and both the countries are working to enhance it in diversified fields of mutual interest.
In an exclusive joint interaction with APP here Monday, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia Ms Naela Chohan and her counterpart in Islamabad, Ms Margaret Adamson informed that both the countries were in regular engagement to strengthening ties for common development.
Highlighting areas of mutual cooperation Pakistani High Commissioner Naela said Agriculture, Defence, Education and Health were her country’s primary sectors of interest to enhance interaction with Australia.
Highlighting impacts of Australian cooperation in Pakistan’s agricultural sector Naela said Australian Center for International Agricultural Research’s (ACIAR) project Micro Credit Empowerment of women in Agri-sector remained very successful here.
She said Andrew Campbell; Chief Executive Officer of the ACIAR is very keen to visit Pakistan to witness collaborated agricultural projects.
Naela said, “Capacity building that includes training of agricultural trainers and small farmers is also going successful. “We are proud of our mango production in Pakistan as Australian friends want to import our mangoes to Australia for their best quality,” she said adding that Pakistan has started entering in Australian market.
Responding to a question, the Australian High Commissioner Margaret informed that ACIAR was focusing on research and training activities and trainers will come to Pakistan to enhance capacity buildings of the Agriculture Sector. Margaret said it is an equal opportunity scheme and under this project 50 % scholarships would be offered to women students.
“ACIAR has a priority to extend research and support programme in Pakistan,” she mentioned.
Ms Margaret said it’s about 10 years that Australia was assisting Pakistan in Mango sector and soon mangoes from here will be exported to Japan and other European countries.
The high commissioner also highlighted Australia’s role in eradicating poverty, embarking on strategies to
improve women education, health and empowerment in Pakistan.
Margaret said Australia was one of the popular study destinations for Pakistani students and hoped that this number would grow as more Pakistani students become aware of the high-quality educational opportunities provided by the Australian institutions.
It is worth mentioning here that Australian Foreign Minister Julie bishop has introduced a new project where the women participation will be 80%.
Ms Naela in brief said the government was continually working on various women empowerment related
projects where both the countries can have positive results for the benefits of their people.
It is interesting to note that both Pakistan and Australia have deployed female high commissioners who were eager to implementing bilateral projects in both countries.
APP Hamza
