Pakistan and China engaged in exemplary partnership over CPEC: VC MNSUA

Multan: Vice Chancellor (VC) Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture (MNSUA) Dr Asif Ali has said that Pakistan and China were engaged in exemplary partnership over the multi-billion-dollar CPEC.

“We highly appreciate already going on partnership of Pakistan and China in the contest of CPEC and other funding opportunities,” he remarked while speaking at a five day training workshop on ‘Agricultural Disaster and Animal Diseases Prevention and Control for Pakistan’ under Administration and Management Institute China in collaboration with the Pakistan Embassy in Beijing.

“CPEC will change the thinking across the Pakistan and China in trading, logistics and landscape and wide range topics can be covered under collaborative formats for both the countries,” Dr Asif Ali underlined, according to details released here.

After this stressed corona period new era will open the new challenges and opportunities for collaboration and work across the two countries, he added.

He informed that the non-traditional security threats like food security issues and showed esteemed respect to the Chinese wisdom for policy making of about these issues.

He stated that both the countries should work on the FAO designated issues in the field of livestock and agriculture sciences to control the disaster and there should be joint nexus of human and animal health department including the agriculture under the umbrella of one health.

Dr. Asif Ali also appreciated that there is long lasting collaboration between Pakistan and China and MNSUA as well established university of South Punjab is already working with Chinese academy of science in Pakistan-China project also arranged Animal Biotechnology conference in collaboration with Chinese Academy of Agriculture.

National Science Foundation of China has provided 15 PhD scholarships in the field of Agriculture engineering to conduct research on water conservation and soil fertility and there are many exchange programs for the uplift of faculty capacity building and training with common portfolio and mutual benefits of China and Pakistan, the VC maintained.

Dr Asif Ali showed concerns about the climate change which has impact on crop production as well as livestock farming leading to the food security disaster.

In Pakistan there are small land holders with small livestock farmers which must be shifted towards cooperative farming by adopting the hybrid wheat production, water harvesting technology and should move towards precision agriculture, he contended.

On the trading, he opined that both the countries should develop strong collaboration in use of biotechnology in both agriculture and livestock to overcome the fodder shortage by producing silage, hay and adopting germplasm technology to cover the fodder shortage.

“We should develop strong trading collaboration by overcoming the cross-boundary diseases of animal and plants and streamline our self for win-win situation under the CPEC,” he underscored.