The fresh breeze blows gently and auspicious clouds gather. On August 22nd, Pakistan was filled with a jubilant festival atmosphere. On this warm and peaceful day, Pakistani Muslims ushered in their grandest festival: the Corban Festival.
Also known as “Eid al-Adha”, the Corban Festival is an important traditional festival for Muslims. According to custom, on the day of the festival, Muslims bathe in incense, go to the mosque to attend the ceremony, slaughter animals and invite relatives and friends to visit their homes.
Founded on the basis of Islam, Pakistan is one of the countries in which Islam is most prevalent. Since taking root in Pakistan, the MCCT Saindak Project Department has fully understood, respected and cared for the religious feelings and customs of Pakistani employees, surmounted the widely divergent cultural barriers between China and Pakistan, and formed a corporate culture atmosphere of mutual understanding, respect and trust. At the dawn of the Corban Festival, deep festival blessings were sent to the project’s Pakistani friends in various ways.
On the morning of August 21st, MCCT President Zou Jianhui led a team to convey greetings to such friendly Pakistani units as the local frontier force, customs, Pakistani Export Processing Zone Administration (EPZ), tribal chiefs, police and tribal policemen (Levies), gave them more than 50 goats and conveyed sincere festival blessings.
On the evening of August 21st, the Company held a dinner party which was attended by about 200 people including MCCT President Zou Jianhui, MCC Resources Corporation President Wei Shengyuan, General Manager He Xuping, Deputy General Manager Tan Jun, Deputy General Manager Ding Hongyu, principals and employee representatives from all units and departments of the MCCT Saindak Project Company, representatives of Pakistani employees and people from all walks of life, enabling Chinese and Pakistani colleagues to celebrate Eid al-Adha together.
At the dinner party, MCCT President Zou Jianhui gave festival greetings to all Pakistani employees on behalf of MCC Group. He then pointed out that over the past sixteen years, as dear to each other as members of one family, all Chinese and Pakistani employees have made arduous efforts and tremendous contributions to the brilliant achievements of the Saindak Project with the support of the Pakistani government at all levels, frontier forces, customs, tribes and other people from all walks of life. He also paid lofty tribute to the officers and soldiers of the border guards who responded calmly and fearlessly to the August 11th terrorist attacks, and expressed his heartfelt gratitude for all the security measures taken afterwards. On this happy occasion, he expressed his hope that all Chinese and Pakistani employees will continue to work together to create new brilliance for the company, and people from all walks of life in Pakistani society will continue to make concerted efforts to contribute to continuing the legend of the Saindak Project. In addition, he hopes that the border guards and other guards from all walks of life will continue to work together to safeguard the security of the Saindak Project.
On behalf of the project company, MCCT Saindak Project General Manager He Xuping thanked MCC Group and MCCT’s superior companies for their greetings and blessings, and extended cordial festival congratulations to people from all walks of life and Pakistani staff members. He then pointed out that since the third lease period, facing such unprecedented difficulties as the reduction of mineral reserves, aging equipment, obstructions to material transportation and severe security situation, all Chinese and Pakistani employees have worked closely together and united as one. The most difficult period in the expansion of the South Ore Body has been basically passed with the mixed selection of the North and South achieving good results, productive supplementary prospecting has been carried out in full, production and operation tasks have been successfully completed, and gratifying achievements have been secured. Especially at the critical juncture after the August 11th terrorist attacks, all Pakistani employees, the Pakistani government, border guards and other people from all walks of life made a firm stand, shared a bitter hatred of the enemy, jointly condemned terrorist acts, took positive action and put forward suggestions, thereby greatly encouraging the Chinese staff members and fully demonstrating the precious friendship of “Chinese and Pakistani workers united as one family” and the tradition of friendship in which “a friend in need is a friend indeed”. With the joint efforts of people from all walks of life and Chinese and Pakistani employees, the company will surely realize its mission of becoming a “Pakistani benchmark enterprise, resource development industry banner and dream platform for Chinese and Pakistani employees”.
Afterwards, the Chinese and Pakistani leaders, guests and employees experienced a rich festival atmosphere with delicious food elaborately prepared in accordance with Islamic customs. The profound friendship between the people of China and Pakistan will continue to blossom, composing a new chapter in the development of the two countries.
