Pakistan donates IT equipment for new Sri Lankan army training center

High Commissioner of Pakistan, Maj. Gen. (R) Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat, right, presenting his country’s donation to Sri Lankan Army Commander Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake at a ceremony held at the army headquarters on Friday. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan High Commission)

• Pakistani High Commissioner to Sri Lanka appreciates role of Sri Lankan armed forces in UN peacekeeping operations
• Sri Lankan Army Commander says donation will help improve IT facilities at the Peacekeeping Training Center

COLOMBO: Pakistan on Friday donated computers and printers to the Sri Lankan army to equip its recently established Peacekeeping Training Center, the embassy said in a statement. 
Pakistani High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Maj. Gen. (R) Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat, presented the computers and printers to Sri Lankan Army Commander Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake at a ceremony held at the army’s headquarters on Friday. 
In a speech thanking the government of Pakistan, Senanayake said the donation would help improve IT facilities at the Peacekeeping Training Center and help in training hundreds of berets in the years to come.
“Both countries will continue to make efforts for nurturing new vistas of cooperation in the years ahead,” Hashmat said in a speech at the ceremony, expressing his appreciation over the role of the Sri Lankan armed forces in UN peacekeeping operations.
“Pakistan has been the most significant and consistent contributor to the UN peacekeeping around the world with the participation of over 150,000 troops since 1960,” the Pakistan embassy in Colombo said in a statement. “Pakistani peacekeepers have left no stone unturned in the noble cause of helping humanity, building peace and bringing stability across the regions, under the banner of United Nations.” 
In an earlier statement, the high commissioner said:
“Sri Lanka and Pakistan inherit a rich cultural heritage and strong cultural relations which are deep-rooted in history. The mutual love between the two people, transcending any other consideration, is the foundation of special relationship that is further cemented by the commonality of eternal values of universal peace and love for humanity, espoused both by Buddhism and Islam.”
Last month Pakistan’s High Commissioner in Colombo said Islamabad would award 1,000 scholarships to Sri Lankan students in various fields, and the two countries were in talks to set up a world-class university in Sri Lanka with Pakistani help. 
South Asian nations have always had friendly relations. In the past, Pakistan has supplied high-tech military equipment to the Sri Lankan army to use in its civil war against the Tamil Tigers. Trade between Sri Lanka and Pakistan stands at less than $400 million a year but Pakistan said in 2016 it would re-invigorate efforts to reach a target of $1 billion “at the earliest”.