ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Belarus would sign at least three agreements for agriculture cooperation during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister of Pakistan to Belarus.
A four-member high-level delegation of Belarus scientists have had detailed discussions with the scientists of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) to explore the areas of agriculture and livestock cooperation Both the countries are having huge potential for cooperation as Pakistan is agricultural country whereas Belarus has also advanced its agriculture sector through the use of scientific technology.
The focus of the cooperation could be on promotion of biotechnology, crop productivity, livestock and agriculture machinery.
Speaking on the occasion Chairman PARC, Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad highlighted the importance of agriculture sector in the world, saying that there were about 16000 scientists in Belarus for population of just 10 million. However, the situation is reverse in Pakistan where just 600 scientists were working for its 200 million population. He urged the Belarus delegation to highlight the importance of agriculture sector during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister of Pakistan to Belarus.
He said that scientific cooperation would help transfer of knowledge, adding thatPakistan has an opportunity to enhance agriculture cooperation with Belarus and take advantage of latest technology that country has produced.
In his detailed presentation, Belarus delegate Academician Secretary, Department of Biological Sciences of National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Belarus, Mikhail Nikiforov said that Belarus has developed several crop technologies that could be utilized for the betterment of Pakistan agriculture sector.
He said that cooperation in science and technology would benefit both the countries and proposed for exchange of scientists and specialists for mutual benefit.
He termed the National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) as a start-of-the-art scientific facility that has been contributing towards research and agriculture development.
INP