Chairman of Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Youth Programme Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan addressing the Belt and Road International Industry-Education Cooperation Forum. (Source: The Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing)

BEIJING, Oct 29: The Belt and Road International Industry-Education Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing, bringing together officials and institutions to discuss ways to better link education with industrial development.

Addressing the forum, Chairman of Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Youth Programme Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan called for stronger China-Pakistan cooperation in vocational education and youth skills training. He also noted that the establishment of the Chinese Secretariat of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme at TANG International Education Group in June 2026 would help improve institutional coordination between the two sides.

Rana Mashhood expressed Pakistan’s strong interest in learning from China’s experience in vocational education and industrial skills training. He called for concrete joint initiatives, including curriculum development, vocational teacher training, applied research, institutional partnerships, student and teacher exchanges, and closer school-enterprise links.

Representatives and education professionals attending the the Belt and Road International Industry-Education Cooperation Forum. (Source: The Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing)

China-Pakistan cooperation in education has expanded in recent years under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and CPEC. The number of Pakistani students studying in China has risen significantly, reaching nearly 29,000 as of late 2025, with thousands receiving Chinese government and institutional scholarships. Their main fields of study include medicine, engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence, agriculture, and Chinese language.

Beyond traditional academic exchanges, both sides have increasingly focused on vocational and technical education to support industrial cooperation. The ongoing cooperation projects include the Pak-China Technical and Vocational Institute in Gwadar, which has been operational since 2023 and supplies skilled technicians for local CPEC projects, as well as Luban Workshops established in Pakistan that have trained more than 1,000 young people in fields such as electrical automation and electromechanics. In 2024, the two sides also launched the China-Pakistan TVET-Industrial Center of Excellence to systematically promote industry-linked training.

The forum reflected the growing emphasis on practical, industry-oriented education cooperation between the two countries, as they seek to better connect talent development with economic collaboration.