Italy and the mountains of Karakorum are tied up by historical links as well as by recent events. Just a few weeks ago, indeed, it was proclaimed that the Italian Karakorum Trust project, coordinated by the Ev-K2-Cnr Committee, will be one of the main partners of the Government of Pakistan - together with the Hindu-Kush-Karakorum-Himalaya (Hkkh) international partnership project and Wwf Pakistan - for the start up and the management of the Central Karakorum National Park.  Here is an interview with Valerio Pietrangelo, Karakorum Trust project manager.

GILGIT, Pakistan -- Ten Pakistani aspiring gemologists, including 5 girls and 5 boys, were recently selected for a gemological training programme, promoted by the Karakorum Trust Project in cooperation with the Italian Gemological Institute (IGI). The course will start in a few months, and will provide the trainees with an in-depth knowledge of gemological analysis and the basics of cutting techniques.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The agreement between the WWF Pakistan and the Ev-K²-CNR Committee was countersigned, in the past days, by Ali Hassan Habib, general director of WWF Pakistan. Dr. Valerio Pietrangelo, project manager of Karakorum Trust, gives us the news directly from Pakistan.

 VIENNA, Austria -- The conference in the within of the “Platform for Interdisciplinary Research and Documentation of Inner and South Asian Cultural History� has been hosted, some days before, at the Geography Institute of the University of Vienna. The dr. Luca Maria Olivieri - Archaeologist of Italian Institute for Africa and the East (IsIAO) - has attended at the meeting for introducing the IsIAO work in course in Pakistan, in collaboration with the Ev-K²-CNR Committee.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The first “Trekking Leaders/Guides Refreshing Training Course�, organized within the framework of the Karakorum Trust cooperation project, recently held in Islamabad, was concluded on December 28, 2006. All the participants have expressed their satisfaction and the Minister of Tourism and other Pakistani institutions praised the initiative at the closing ceremony.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Yesterday in Islamabad, the training course for “Trekking leaders�, organized by the Ev-K²-CNR Committee and the Alpine Club of Pakistan, is begun. The course is finalized at the development of abilities for managing the tourist flows and at the reliability of trekking guide.

ROME, Italy -- In order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan, the Italian Institute for Africa and the East (ISIAO), in collaboration with the Embassy of Pakistan in Rome and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prepared a photographic exhibition, which today will be inaugurated in Rome. Valerio Pietrangelo, will be presented.