Colours, musical performance makes Unity Day reception a colourful event
Zubair Qureshi
Germany has been extending technical, scientific digital and humanitarian support to Pakistan for the last many decades and for that the Pakistan government and the people are thankful to their German counterparts.
Minister for Economic Affairs, former Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq expressed these views while addressing as Chief Guest a reception marking the Day of German Unity.
This was an outdoor reception held in the lawns of the Serena Business Complex reflecting, colours, cultures and cuisine of Germany.
The newly arrived Ambassador of Germany Alfred Grannas expressed his pleasure to ‘finally’ host the Oct 3 celebration after a gap of almost three years.
Speaking on the occasion, Ayaz Sadiq recalled his visit to Germany in 2017 and there he witnessed the tremendous progress the country has made in energy, industrial and technological sectors.
CEO of Siemens Pakistan Markus Strohmeier on the occasion shared his company’s contributions in health, power, railways infrastructure. Siemens also presents smart digital solutions, he said, adding in the humanitarian sector too his company was providing relief assistance.
Earlier Ambassador Grannas said with more than 56 million euros provided so far Germany continues to be a major donor to flood relief efforts.
In Pakistan’s floods, millions of families have lost their loved ones, their homes, and livelihoods and are at the risk of catching water-borne diseases. The contributions by Germany will not be completed without the mention of giz particularly to support projects aimed at gender-equality, elimination of child labour and discrimination against women and minorities.
Tobias Becker, the country director of giz, said the organization was a longstanding partner of Pakistan, and last year, we had 60 years of development cooperation and 70 years of diplomatic relations.
We support qualitative vocational education in fields like robotics, plumbing as they are based on a system of accreditation and certification. It also focuses on social protection, social health protection and climate resilience which is becoming increasingly important, said Tobias.
Federal Minister Khawaja Asif, Senator Talha Mehmood, Ambassadors of Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, Morocco, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Brunei, High Commissioners of India, Bangladesh, former DHM France Ives Manville, diplomats, military attaches and members of civil society attended the German Unity Day in good number and enjoyed the German food as well as the music.
