Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Pakistan Charles Joseph M Delogne on Sunday said that Pakistan was an important country in the region and Belgium valued its efforts for bringing peace and stability. The envoy made the remarks during a seminar titled “Pak-Belgium Relations: Past, Present and Future” which was organized by Policy Institute for Peace and Development (PIPD) and Bahria University, Islamabad. “Pakistan and Belgium enjoy friendly and cooperative relations based upon common interests and shared values of democracy, pluralism and trust,” he added. The ambassador said that the bilateral diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Belgium were established soon after Pakistan’s independence in 1948. He further said that both countries had strong trade and economic relations in the areas of Textile, Pharmaceutical products, machinery, medical equipment, iron, steel and chemicals. Addressing the students, he highlighted the two types of academic scholarships; ARES and VLIR-OUS that can be acquired by HEC and Ministry of Education directly with the counterparts in Brussels. President Policy Institute of Peace & Development Ms. Wadana Khattak stressed upon the crucial role of cultural diplomacy and people to people contact in bringing the nations closer. “Culture, art, music and sports, two countries can build a stronger and lasting relationship with each other,” he added. She expressed the dire need for cross-cultural collaboration between Pakistan and Belgium both at the government and public level to further enhance the ties and foster the already strong diplomatic relations. Dean Department of Social Sciences Dr. Adam Saud presented a scholarly expose at the historical and current perspective of relations between Belgium and Pakistan while exploring the new domains of cooperation and strengthening of bilateral ties. He said that there exist a number of areas in which Belgium and Pakistan can jointly work to benefit mutually from such as information technology, science, medical and industrial research and agricultural innovation.