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PILDAT joined hands with the East-West Centre, Hawaii as their Programme Partners in Pakistan for designing, arranging and managing a visit of Jefferson Fellows to Pakistan from February 12-14, 2006. The Jefferson Fellows, which included 13 journalists, 6 from the US and 7 from different countries of the Asia-Pacific, met with the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan, got briefings from the Ministry of Finance, National Commission on the Status of Women, Ministry of Information and Ministry of Religious Affairs including a visit to a madressah, as part of the PILDAT programme. The fellows also met with some of the Opposition Senators, called on the Chairman Senate, interacted with senior staffers of the Daily Dawn and were given a briefing on the role of civil society in disaster management by an NGO Sungi Development Foundation during their visit. In a key-note Speech, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, briefed fellows on the prevailing geo-political situation of Pakistan, its state of democracy, overall foreign relations and some of the regional challenges of the present and the future. Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed�s speech can be heard through the audio clip link. |
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The visit programme was planned in line with the theme of �South Asia Shining� of the Winter 2006 Jefferson Fellowship. The programme focussed on recent economic growth and development in Pakistan in the broader political, social, cultural and security context of the region. The Jefferson Fellowships is the oldest and most prestigious of the East-West Center�s (www.eastwestcenter.org) activities. In its 38th year, more than 400 journalists from Asia Pacific and the United States have broadened and deepened their knowledge of the Asia Pacific through this Fellowship. The EWC, internationally recognized, private, non-profit research and education institute based in Honolulu, Hawaii, was established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 with the mission of strengthening understanding and relations between the United States and the countries of the Asia Pacific region through collaborative study and research.
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