Islamabad
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzer-land on Wednesday held a hybrid event on agricultural technologies-related innovation for sustainable agriculture.
The event brought together, physically and virtually, nearly 100 science and technology-related stakeholders from Pakistan and Swit-zerland.
It also featured an exhibition of start-ups re-lated to agri-bio and agri-tech in Pakistan, showcasing a diverse range of products and services.
In his address, the Federal Minister for Na-tional Food Security and Research, Syed Fak-har Imam, welcomed the interface between local innovation stakeholders and potential international partners.
He emphasised upon the need for incorporat-ing recent innovations such as precision agri-culture to increase the productivity of the agri-cultural value chain.
In this context, he also lauded the efforts of the local start-ups that are transforming the agri-cultural sector and affiliated industries in the country with the full support of the Govern-ment of Pakistan.
The Director General (United Nations/Science Diplomacy) highlighted the role of technology in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals, including those related to food security and climate change.
He said that Pakistan and Switzerland’s friendly relations would be further strength-ened through science diplomacy related en-gagements that can create scientific linkages and technological collaboration between the two countries.
The Swiss Chargé d’Affaires echoed similar sentiments and underscored the necessity of scientific cooperation to help tackle the multi-faceted issues of climate change and food se-curity.
He also highlighted that sustainability is an important element for Swiss companies and one of their prioritized agenda for international partnerships.
The event included technical talks, institutional offerings and a panel discussion focused on the agriculture and green technological related landscape in both countries, as well as poten-tial areas of collaboration.
The participants from Pakistan included repre-sentatives from Special Technology Zones Authority, Higher Education Commission, National Science and Technology Park, Na-tional University of Science and Technology, and SUPARCO.
Representation from the Swiss side included experts from Swiss Fed-eral Office for Agriculture, Geneva Science Diplomacy Anticipator, Swiss Research Insti-tute of Organic Agriculture, along with some major Swiss start-ups working in the clean technology sector.
