Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb has stressed the need for broad-base, long term and sustained partnership with Kazakhstan in the field of media, information, culture and heritage.
She was talking to a high-level media delegation from Kazakhstan on Monday. She proposed the idea of translating selected books, exchange of dramas, films, productions and broadcasts as they were powerful mediums for outreaching the people of both countries. The minister said that present democratic government believed in freedom of expression and upheld the role of media as watchdog of the society.
She said that media could play a vital role in further strengthening bilateral ties between the two brotherly Muslim states and in bringing their people close to each other. Marriyum Aurangzeb emphasised the need for exchange of media delegations, cultural troupe and a mix of university students to understand and learn each other’s cultural values and other best practices respectively.
She informed the delegation that ministry was contemplating to initiate a robust and comprehensive curriculum based training programme for media persons with the view to enhance their professional capacity.
She said that the government accorded top priority to youth in Pakistan and therefore had launched first ever Prime Minister’s Youth Programme to provide various incentives and socio-economic development initiatives for the youth under the umbrella. She said that federal government was running various schemes under PM Youth Programme which included youth business loans scheme, youth skill development programme and Prime Minister’s Youth Training Scheme.
She said that the youth of Pakistan were well-aware of their rights as well as more enlightened and savvy of the technological skills. The delegation appreciated the level of independence provided to media in Pakistan and underscored the need for strong cultural ties between the two states. The delegation reiterated that Pakistan and Kazakhstan shared common religion and values which provided them a solid ground to develop broad based and multi-dimensional relationship to serve their mutual interests.
The delegation asked for collaboration and cooperation in exchange of information and broadcast, which the minister readily agreed and assured her full cooperation in that regard. Responding to a question, she said that social media in Pakistan was expanding like other countries of the world.