Boosting ties: Mauritian president calls for bilateral collaboration

Stresses need for cooperation in trade, tourism, education, health and research

KARACHI: The president of the Republic of Mauritius, Dr Bibi Ameenah Firdaus Gurib-Fakim, underlined the need on Tuesday for increasing collaboration between her country and Pakistan in trade, tourism, education, health and research fields.

During her visit to the Hussain Ebrahim Jamal (HEJ) Institute of Chemistry at Karachi University, she praised the quality of Pakistani educational institutes, especially the HEJ. In a dialogue with faculty members and students, she said there was big potential to enhance bilateral trade as Pakistan could get access to Africa through Mauritius and the latter could reach Central Asia via Pakistan.



The visiting president said the Mauritian government had focused on research and increasing the knowledge base. Since its independence in 1968, Mauritius has been a knowledge-based economy, she said. Dr Gurib-Fakim holds a doctorate in chemistry from United Kingdom and has written 26 books of international repute besides many papers on chemistry. According to her, she had joined a university in Mauritius in 2001 as a professor and then became the vice-chancellor before being selected as the head of the state in recognition of her research and other educational services.

Dr Gurib-Fakim is the first Muslim female scientist president of any country.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th,  2016.