ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The US Embassy’s Minister Counselor for Public Affairs Raymond Castillo and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Kaleem Abbasi joined faculty and students to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of the Lincoln Corner at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (UAJK) in Muzaffarabad and to renew its Memorandum of Understanding for another two years.
Established in 2007, the Lincoln Corner at University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir is one of the longest-serving in Pakistan.
“As we mark this 15-year anniversary celebration, we have many activities also to look forward to in the future. Today I have the pleasure of announcing the launch of the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs training for Lincoln Corner Muzaffarabad starting June 11. AWE Pakistan is a competitive, fully-funded program offered by the US Mission to Pakistan to help women entrepreneurs with the skills, resources, and networks needed to establish and grow their businesses, through facilitated, online learning,” Mr. Castillo said in his remarks.
“The 15th year anniversary celebration is also part of a larger 75th anniversary celebration of US-Pakistan bilateral relations. Our partnership has grown in many areas, and we look forward to building on our successes and expanding further on the ties between the American and Pakistani people,” noted Minister Counselor Castillo.
The Lincoln Corner at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s City Campus includes a Maker Space with a 3-D printer and virtual reality headsets, a comprehensive collection of books, magazines, scholarly databases, and an Americana-themed public events space.
Lincoln Corner Muzaffarabad is part of a network of 19 American Spaces across Pakistan and more than 600 across the world. In Pakistan, these Spaces are partnerships between the U.S. Mission to Pakistan and eminent Pakistani institutes of education and culture. Lincoln Corners are event spaces and resource centers that connect young leaders with the United States. Online and in-person programs are free and open to the public, a tangible symbol of the strength and breadth of US-Pakistan relations, since Pakistan’s inception 75 years ago.
While in Muzaffarabad, Mr. Castillo also met with officials from the AJK Government’s Department of Education and visited students from English Works!, a US Embassy program that improves the English language skills of unemployed or under-employed youth ages 17 to 25, while also enhancing entrepreneurial and technical skills to increase employability.
He also engaged with more than 40 alumni of the Pakistan-US Alumni Network.
