Staff Reporter
A virtual meeting of COMSATS’ officials and the Torch Hi-tech Industry Development Centre of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) was held to place a Memorandum of Understanding of COMSATS with the Chinese Ministry of S&T for cooperation in various fields of science and technology for the benefit of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries and COMSATS Member States. This meeting was arranged to benefit from the expertise available with the Torch Centre for the establishment and management of S&T Park on Biotechnology in Pakistan.
The meeting was attended by Dr. S. M. Junaid Zaidi, Executive Director COMSATS; Mr. Mo Tan, Director of the Division of International Cooperation, Torch Centre, Chinese Ministry of ST; as well as other senior officials of COMSATS and Torch Centre.
During the meeting, Gen. (R.) Muhammad Tahir, Advisor (China Desk), COMSATS, greatly appreciated the help being rendered by China to Pakistan for dealing with the current coronavirus and locust crises. He considered China’s good practices and experience in the field of agriculture important for Pakistan and other COMSATS Member States in battling impending threat to food security.
Gen. (R.) Tahir informed that for the construction of S&T Park on Biotechnology in Jhelum, Punjab province of Pakistan, the land is being provided by the Government of Pakistan and the modalities have been worked out. He stated that the S&T Park would be based on the model of one of the Centers of Excellence of COMSATS, i.e., the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB), China, which has excellent research and commercialization facilities. He noted that the scope of herbal medicines both in Pakistan and China is immense and both countries can collaborate in this field. He added, the S&T Park once established will work in pharmaceutics, agriculture, green textiles and biosciences spheres and will also benefit other COMSATS Member States and BRI countries.
