On February 23, representatives of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus held talks with a delegation of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research of Pakistan led by Abid Javed, First Deputy Minister, Co-chair of the Joint Working Group. As Deputy Chairman of the NASB Presidium Pyotr Kazakevich noted at the meeting, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus attached great importance to bolstering the mutually beneficial cooperation with Pakistan. He emphasized that the NAS of Belarus had developed a set of measures on development of cooperation between the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and organizations of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 2016-2020. It includes nine projects, which are to be implemented in cooperation with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council. Pyotr Kazakevich said, “We are ready to implement these projects in the near future.”

During the talks, the sides discussed prospects of scientific and technical cooperation in the agro-industrial complex between Belarus and Pakistan. Exchange of genetic resources of fruit and berry crops, methods for minimizing harvest loss, and technologies for advanced processing of meat and dairy products are among the proposed projects. Thus, the NASB Research Center for Mechanization of Agriculture is ready to consider launching supplies of demanded agricultural machinery to Pakistan and design a machinery system for innovative production of agricultural products taking into account soil and climatic conditions in Pakistan.

In his turn, First Deputy National Food Security and Research Minister Abid Javed noted that Pakistan was interested in agricultural cooperation and establishing joint ventures manufacturing meat and dairy products with the use of Belarusian technologies.

Members of the delegation visited research centers of the NASB Department of Agrarian Sciences and got acquainted with their activities. The visits will help develop more specific suggestions on further cooperation.