A 22-member Pakistani delegation of students and faculty members from Bahria University, Islamabad, yesterday compared notes with American counterparts at Valparaiso University in the US state of Indiana on their leaning experiences and exchanged ideas about promoting cooperation between them.
The occasion was a luncheon hosted by Valparaiso University President Mark Heckler for the visiting 18 students and four faculty members, lead by Admiral Shahid Saeed, pro-rector of Bharia University.
Speaking at the event, Pakistan’s Consul General Faisal Niaz Tirmizi said that exchange visits between students and faculty of educational institutes of Pakistan and United States would help further strengthen the relations between the both countries. In this regard, he stressed the need for increased people-to-people, universities-to-universities and businesses-to-businesses contacts.
He advised the visiting Pakistani students to take advantage of their current visit to the United States and build close ties with students here. He described them as young ambassadors of Pakistan and true depiction of a country which is full of talent.
Heckler, the president of the Valparaiso University, welcomed the future leaders of Pakistan and hoped that they would will carry happy memories of their stay in Indiana and Illinois. He noted that Pakistan was an important country with a population of 220 million, sixty percent of which is under the age of 26 years.
Erik Froelich, the director for International Initiatives at the Valparaiso University, appreciated the role of the Pakistani Consulate in Chicago in forging and strengthening the linkages it established with universities here.
In his brief remarks, Admiral Saeed thanked the faculty of Valparaiso University and the Consulate General of Pakistan for their efforts in building this university-to-university relationship. He vowed to take this relationship to a higher level by an exchange of faculties from both Universities on regular basis, and invited the students and faculty of Valparaiso University for a visit to Pakistan.
