MULTAN, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 9th Sep, 2026) Chinese Consul General Sun Yaan said on Wednesday that South Punjab held immense potential in education, health, agriculture, livestock and tourism, and praised the region’s culture and mangoes in particular.
Sun Yaan, accompanying a delegation, visited the South Punjab Civil Secretariat here, where he was received by Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani. During the meeting, both sides discussed administrative and bilateral matters, including cooperation in agriculture, education, health, livestock and import-export potential.
Following the meeting, a briefing session chaired jointly by the Additional Chief Secretary and the Chinese Consul General was held, in which special secretaries of the livestock, agriculture, health and population welfare, and school and higher education departments gave presentations.
Officials told the briefing that mango, red chili, cotton, sugarcane, onion, dates, maize and wheat were the major crops of South Punjab, and that 314,000 Kisan Cards had been issued to farmers under the Punjab chief minister’s financial assistance initiative. Special focus had been placed on animal health, genetics, and improving milk and meat production to international standards, the briefing noted.
The region’s health infrastructure included 13 specialized hospitals, 9 district headquarters hospitals, 35 tehsil headquarters hospitals, 112 Maryam Nawaz Hospitals and 761 Maryam Nawaz Health Clinics, besides 278 mobile “Clinics on Wheels” and 11 field hospitals.
South Punjab was also declared polio-free.
On education, officials said 3.38 million students were enrolled in 13,515 schools, while over 197,000 students were studying in 202 colleges across the region. The Chief Minister’s School Meal Programme continued successfully across South Punjab’s educational institutions, the briefing added.
Rabbani’s proposal to the Punjab government for setting up an internationally compliant slaughterhouse and meat-packing facility in Bahawalnagar for halal meat exports was strongly endorsed during the meeting.
Rabbani said the establishment of the South Punjab Secretariat had significantly improved monitoring of divisional and district administration and allied departments, adding that the Bahawalpur and Multan Agri Malls were providing farmers effective services under one roof. He said South Punjab pioneered the electronic filing system now being adopted across Punjab, improving transparency and accountability, and stressed the need to equip the younger generation with modern education, health facilities, updated curricula and skills.
Sun Yaan added that improving seed quality and adopting modern agricultural machinery could help strengthen Pakistan’s economy, and maintained that the friendship between the peoples of Pakistan and China was growing stronger with each passing generation.
