BEIJING: China will continue to assist Pakistan and other BRI nations in human resource development and industrial growth as key elements of overall economic progress, said former Chinese diplomat Chen Mingming. In his inaugural lecture at the first session of a 14-day-long seminar on “Construction and Operation of Industrial Parks under the Bridge and Road Initiative (BRI)”, he said that China was ready to help BRI nations to enhance access to technical education for youth by establishing vocational training institutes. The seminar has been organized by the Academy for Int’l Business Officials (AIBO) of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Government officials from the BRI nations including Pakistan, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Ethiopia and Nigeria are participating in the extensive online training sessions. As per the schedule, prominent Chinese experts will speak on the topics including industrial growth and human resource development as well as operational management of industrial parks for optimum growth, China Economic Net (CEN) reported. Chen said that young people in developing countries have not been fully empowered through skill and knowledge and added, the youth in these countries have not been trained in modern technologies and have less access to skill development resources. However, Chen said that China was ready to help the BRI nations to bridge this gap by establishing vocational training institutes to enhance access to technical education for youth. “Capacity building is key to industrial and overall economic growth, which is the most important area of cooperation between the development partners”, he said. He further said that China was a reliable development partner and advised the participants to focus on the production of environmentally-friendly energy in their countries for sustainable growth. He pledged that China would support every effort in this regard. “China will always be with you in building and operating industrial parks. Together we may achieve more for our nations”, Chen assured the participants. He said that Chinese companies in various partner countries were training local youth by employing them in industrial parks. Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Int;l Trade and Economic Cooperation, in his lecture shed light on new trends in international economic cooperation in the post-Covid-19 era. He mentioned the steps taken by the Chinese government to curb the spread of Coronavirus both at home and globally, including the provision of COVID-19 vaccines to numerous countries in the world. He also exposed the baseless propaganda carried out by western media against China in this regard.