Naval Chief for Sino-Pak coop in shipbuilding

[sonicboom]

Naval Chief for Sino-Pak coop in shipbuilding

September 20, 2010

BEIJING (APP) - After successful completion of construction of three F-22 P Frigates in China, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir said that Pakistan has identified to China the cooperation in the field of construction of submarine, bigger war ships, acquiring modern weapons and equipments. “We have the history of cooperation in the Navy with China like we have cooperation in all other fields”, said Noman Bashir while talking to media here at a reception on Saturday evening. Ambassador of Pakistan to China Masood Khan was also present on the occasion.

He said Pakistan Navy had already taken over three Frigates and the fourth one was being constructed with Chinese cooperation in Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works and hoped that like the three frigates, the construction of fourth ship in Karachi will be completed ahead of schedule.
“We will not stop here and this cooperation will continue”, said Admiral Noman Bashir while replying to a question.

He said that during his meetings with Chinese side, he had identified areas including building of submarines, as so far we had not entered into joint construction of submarines.

This was one of areas Pakistan would now like to explore, he noted.
He said Pakistan also like to go for construction of bigger ships with cooperation of China. These ships would be bigger than the current F-22 P Frigates, he added.

There is lot of discussion that are taking place, he said, adding “Obviously we will have the ships and submarines which will be according to our requirements and specifications”. He said in the areas of weapons and sensors we were going beyond what we had.

On floods in Pakistan and Chinese relief assistance, Admiral Noman Bashir said that we were grateful to the government and the people of China for their timely assistance for the flood affected people.

He said the Chinese Medical team was doing an excellent job and Pakistan Navy had taken the responsibility to look after them. He said before coming here he went to the Chinese Mobile Hospital which was established in Thatta, which was doing remarkable job. In addition to medical team and hospital, there was lot of flood relief supplies we received from China.

Flood had caused great deal of damage in Pakistan, said Admiral Noman Bashir, adding that these unprecedented floods we did not experience in our history. The floods are not confined to one part of the country, but caused widespread damage from north to south, he added.

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