Business news

ISLAMABAD, 3 October (BelTA) – Belarusian and Pakistani scientists have launched joint research projects in agriculture and healthcare, Chairman of the State Science and Technology Committee of Belarus Alexander Shumilin told reporters on 3 October, BelTA has learned.

On 3 October, Alexander Shumilin and Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain signed an agreement to set up in Islamabad a Belarusian-Pakistani center to coordinate sci-tech and innovative cooperation. The Belarusian branch of the center already operates in Minsk.

“We selected three projects, and have already started working on their implementation. The first yield-boosting project deals with treatment of the plasma of grain. The second one, which is of particular interest to Pakistan, aims to develop membranes for water treatment. The third project is designed to identify proneness to certain diseases, including diabetes, through DNA analysis,” Alexander Shumilin said.

He noted that although these three projects belong to different fields, all of them involve world-class research and high technology.

Rana Tanveer Hussain, for his part, noted that Belarus and Pakistan have great potential for cooperation in technology. “Last year, we signed an agreement on cooperation in this field. Today we can praise the efforts of Belarus’ State Science and Technology Committee and Pakistan’s Ministry for Science and Technology in this project. Last year, we initiated one project, and launched another three in 2016. We have no plans to rest on our laurels. By the end of 2016, we will select several more projects that will be implemented in the near future. We believe that the cooperation in the field of technology will advance the relations between Belarus and Pakistan in all fields,” he stressed.