University of Sargodha joins China’s agriculture league

The University of Sargodha has become the first public sector university from Pakistan to join China’s Belt and Road (South-South Cooperation Agricultural Education, Science and Technology Innovation League).

The league’s founding ceremony was held at China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing, where the membership certificate was awarded to Vice Chancellor Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad accompanied by Dean of Agriculture Dr Muhammad Afzal.

The two-day event was attended by vice chancellors, presidents and other university officials from more than 70 participating nations from different regions of the world included in the Belt and Road Initiative.

“The league will uphold the concept of peaceful cooperation, opening inclusiveness, mutual learning, mutual benefits and win-win effects and be committed to advancing the close cooperation among the members in areas such as agricultural research, technical application, policy dialogue, talent cultivation and cultural communication,” read the joint declaration issued on the occasion.

In his opening address, CAU President Dr Sun Qixin said the affluent agricultural resources of over 70 countries along the Belt and Road provide extremely large space for agricultural cooperation, which China is already steering through extensive capital investment, technology transfer and product development.

Top officials from Chinese ministries of Commence, Agriculture and Rural Affairs and agriculture research centres also spoke on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2018.