Sino-Pak science, tech tie-up highlighted

Beijing holds first int’l seminar on two-way cooperation

ISLAMABAD:

The first international seminar on “China-Pakistan Science and Technology Enterprises Cooperation” was held in the recently established China-Pakistan Science and Technology Cooperation Center, Beijing.

The seminar, participated by more than 30 Science and Technology organisations, was co-hosted by Zhongguancun, the Belt and Road Industrial Promotion Association (ZBRA) and the Embassy of Pakistan in China.

He said that in 20 years of development, the park has gathered nearly 20,000 high-tech enterprises represented by Lenovo and Baidu, forming six advantageous industrial clusters such as the next-generation Internet, mobile Internet and a new generation of mobile communications.

He added that four potential industrial clusters such as integrated circuits, new materials, high-end equipment and general aviation, new energy and new energy vehicles, and high-end development of modern service industries etc.

Science and Technology Counsellor in the Pakistan Embassy in Beijing, Khan Muhammad Wazir after conveying the good wishes of Pakistan’s Ambassador to the participants, presented Pakistan’s need for scientific and technological cooperation.

He pointed out that there is great potential for scientific and technological cooperation between China and Pakistan in the fields of emerging technologies, advanced and new materials, green energy technologies, digital economy, smart cities, minerals and natural resources, modernisation of agriculture and Industry through technology and innovation, biodiversity and climate change, disaster mitigation and prevention, drug discovery and vaccine development.

Khan Muhammad proposed that a coordination committee comprising representatives from ZBRA, the Pakistan Embassy in Beijing, Ministries of Science and Technology, China and Pakistan, Chinese Academy of Sciences and STZA etc need to be constituted joint operate the China-Pakistan Science and Technology Cooperation Center located in Beijing.

Representatives of participating institutions both public and private delivered presentations and expressed their willingness to cooperate with Pakistan in their respective areas.