Pakistan-US Educational Cooperation Promoting Mutual Understanding: Haqqani

Ambassador Haqqani addresses the guests of the event	Guests are seated during the event	Ambassador Haqqani, US Asstt. Secy. of State for Education & others

 

Washington , DC: The expanding Pakistan-US cooperation in the field of education will help foster understanding between the two nations as they strive to build a strategic partnership, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani said. Speaking to a gathering of Pakistani Fulbright scholars and visiting vice chancellors of some leading Pakistani universities, Haqqani also stressed that the trend to talk about revolution as answer to problems is a simplistic way of looking at difficult things while actual transformation comes through a tough process of reforms and enlightened education.

“We are building a strategic partnership and exchange of students under programs like Fulbright contributes significantly towards improving mutual understanding about each other,” he said at a reception the ambassador hosted in honor of the scholars and vice chanellors.

Pakistan , he said, is attempting to build democratic institutions and going through a transformation towards democratic development. Haqqani noted that Pakistan has produced men of excellence in various fields including medicine, engineering and information technology but it also needs sociologists, political scientists and anthropologists to steer the country forward as a ‘viable and effective state.” He said the United States has set some very high standards of education and a replication of research-based higher education in some leading fields of learning will help Pakistan.

The ambassador remarked that exchange of students under programs like Fulbright offers opportunity to learn about the society and people and underlined there is a need to understand the Pakistani society in the United States.

Assistant Secretary of State for Euducation and Cultural Affairs said thousands of Pakistanis have benefited from the Fulbright scholarship and currently hundreds of Pakistani students are studying under the program in a variety of fields.

She said the exchange of students helps to forge people-to-people relations and strengthen relations between countries. 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------