CERN’s membership: Pakistan hopes to be part of prestigious science research club

European nuclear research team due to arrive today.


Peer Muhammad February 10, 2014
European nuclear research team due to arrive today. PHOTO: FILE

Pakistan is aspiring to become an associate member of European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). The application from Pakistan for the associate membership was submitted one year back, in February 2013.

A four-member high powered CERN Technical Team (CTT) – led by CERN’s Director for Research and Scientific Computing Dr Sergio Bertolucci – is due to arrive on Monday (today) on a four-day visit to Pakistan as part of the evaluation process for the Associate Membership (AM) of CERN for Pakistan.

Besides holding meetings with the authorities concerned, the team will also hold meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain to discuss the relevant issues, said Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Director PR Shahid Riaz. He said the CTT would assess and evaluate the scientific activities being undertaken in Pakistan. “The Team will also visit universities, scientific organisations and industrial complexes in the country,” he added.

Riaz said CERN, located in Geneva, Switzerland, gave preference to Pakistan because of the contribution of Pakistan to CERN in terms of manpower as more than 30 Pakistani scientists always work in the research organisation.

“Pakistan has a very cordial relationship with CERN, which is the world’s leading scientific organisation conducting research on High Energy Particle Physics since its inception in 1954,” he said.

CERN members include 20 European countries. Recently, Israel has been accorded imembership. CERN has three associate members and five observer states including India.

“There are numerous benefits, if Pakistan becomes CERN’s associate member. These include engineering contracts to support CERN programmes, which will be beneficial for our industrial sector and human resource development,” he said, adding that it would also help in technology transfer in key areas of radiofrequency (RF) technology, ion beam optics, cryogenics.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2014.

COMMENTS (14)

Faheem Ijaz | 10 years ago | Reply The informal scientific co-operation between CERN and Pakistan dates back to the 1960s, when Pakistan was introduced to CERN through Dr.Abdus Salam, the country's only Nobel Laureate.
Shanzae | 10 years ago | Reply

CERN appreciates the Pakistani scientists for their efforts in the fields of science and technology and especially for nuclear research on which this very organization mandated for. As far as regional complexities are concerned India is not a member of NPT. It is having a wavering status in NSG and its membership is being questioned many times. CERN acknowledges the credentials of Pakistani scientists and this is a moment of pride. Every country is facing lots of social ailments along with these appreciations for development. It also reflects the acceptance of Pakistani scientists at the international level

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