February 22, 2002	Friday	Zilhaj 9, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: Pakistan and Sudan will contribute $500,000 each to establish a revolving fund for forging cooperation in the fields of electronics and computer, software, veterinary medicines, sustainable energy, cotton and rice breeding and human resource development.

The visiting Sudanese Minister for Science and Technology Zubair Bashir Taha and his Pakistani counter part Dr Atta-ur- Rehman inked the agreement for the creation of fund here on Wednesday, an official announcement said.

The executive protocol, which has been signed within the framework of Pakistan-Sudan Joint Ministerial Commission outlines the broad areas of cooperation. The institutions of the two countries which will collaborate with each other have also been identified.

Under the agreement Pakistan Software Export Board will participate in setting up of technology incubators being set up in the electronic city of Sudan, it said.

Veterinary Research Institute, NARC Islamabad, Poultry Vaccine Institute Karachi, Nuclear Institute of Agriculture Biology Pakistan will collaborate with the Animal Research and Technology Cooperation (ARTC) of Sudan for veterinary medicine.

The two sides will undertake joint research projects in the areas of solar water pumping, phtovoltaics, bio-gas, mini/micro hydel plants, Energy Technology and Earth Science Corporation.

The ministry of science and technology, Government of Sudan would collaborate with Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy and Technologies (PCRET) and the Optics Laboratories, Islamabad, to formulate and undertake joint research and development projects in the field of lasers.

The two countries have also agreed to formulate projects in the areas of cotton and rice growing. Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and Biology, Faisalabad and National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad will collaborate with the Agricultural Research Corporation, Sudan.

Under the Human Resource Development Programme to be jointly undertaken by the two countries the Interrelationship and technology transfer sections, Ministry of Science and Technology Sudan will collaborate with the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, Karachi, for availing training facilities for the Sudanese students in the field of organic chemistry.