ISLAMABAD, July 11: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Friday appointed Dr Attaur Rehman as the science and technology ministry’s in charge with the status of federal minister.

After taking the charge, Dr Rehman visited the ministry and met the secretary and other officials. He will have

Talking to Dawn later, Dr Rehman said his priority would be to enhance the budgetary allocation of the ministry to the level where he had left it.

The allocation has been reduced to Rs1.2 billion for the year 2003-04 while during the previous year, it was Rs2.6 billion.

Dr Rehman served as the science and technology minister under President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s military government.

Asked how could he be made a minister when he was not a member of parliament, Dr Rehman, who is the Higher Education Commission chairman, said he had been given the additional charge of the ministry.

He said his priorities would be to strengthen engineering sciences, biotechnology and pharmacy and create linkage between educational institutions and industries.

The emphasis would be on implementing the approved projects of the Pakistan Council for Industrial and Scientific Research, worth Rs2.6 billion, besides testing of the quality of products in accordance with international standards, he said.