ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: Federal Minister for Education Zubeda Jalal has called for the need to develop linkages between the British and the Pakistan universities.

She was talking to Peter Ellwood, the director British Council Pakistan, who had called on her here on Friday.

Ms Jalal said the time was ripe for experience-sharing between the universities of the two countries as the education ministry’s taskforce on higher education was finalizing its proposals for strengthening the higher education sector in the country.

The British Council is organizing a conference on ‘Higher education link coordination’ in Islamabad on October 31 where the representatives of Pakistan universities would discuss the modalities of collaboration with their British counterparts.

Mr Ellwood said in the present circumstances, the conference would also provide an excellent opportunity of confidence- building between the intellectuals of the two sides.

The minister reciprocated the sentiment by saying that in the current situation, the two sides needed to understand each other and for that, she added, a face-to-face interaction could make a big difference.

Mr Ellwood told the minister that although offices of the British Council had been closed for the public, its operations were continuing successfully in Pakistan.