Pak scientists visit Belarus

PESHAWAR: A two-member delegation of scientists has returned home after a visit to Belarus during which memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed for exchange of scholars and students and for finding common ground for promotion of higher education.
Prof Mansoor Akbar Kundi, executive director, Higher Education Commission (HEC), and Prof Zabta Khan Shinwari, secretary general of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, visited Belarus for three days on the invitation of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. This was the first visit of a Pakistani scientific delegation to Belarus.
The visit was arranged by the newly opened Belarusian embassy in Islamabad. It may be added that the President of Belarus is also scheduled to visit Pakistan in the near future.The MoUs were signed between the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and also between the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and the Ministry of Higher Education of Belarus.
Prof Kundi and Prof Shinwari paid visits to the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and its organizations, including the Scientific and Practical Centre for Agriculture Mechanization, the Institute for Soil Science and Agro-chemistry, and the Institute of Genetics and Cytology. They also visited the State University and the Institute of Economics. Apart from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, the delegation also visited some other cities, historic places and the truck and tractor manufacturing units. Belarus is one of the biggest truck and tractors manufacturing countries in the world.
Alexander Kilchevsky, chief academic secretary of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, was quoted as saying by a Belarusian newspaper that his academy would cooperate with the Pakistan Academy of Sciences to develop joint projects. He said it is also likely that the two sides set up a joint fund for scientific research.