ISLAMABAD: Pakistan seeks cooperation in the technological sector with China, not only to promote enterprises but improve the academic side too.

The Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) of Pakistan and the Zhongguancun Belt And Road Industrial Promotion Association of China (ZBRA) signed a letter of intent (LoI) at a virtual ceremony for promotion of science and technological exchanges between the two countries.

The letter was signed by Zhang Xiaodong,president of ZBRA, and Amer Hashmi, chairman of STZA in the presence of Moinul Haque, Pakistan’s ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, and Khalid Mansoor, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Under the agreement, cooperation among academic institutions, research and development centres, industries and technological enterprises of the two countries will be enhanced.

The STZA aims to initiate collaboration with ZBRA to promote scientific and technological exchanges between China and Pakistan including development of a complete ecosystem, new and emerging technologies, and construction and management of technology zones.

Both parties aim to facilitate exchanges between tech enterprises of both countries in the areas of semiconductors, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, fin tech, block chain, and biotech.

The Zhongguancun Science Park, also known as Z-Park, was established in 1988 as one of the first science parks and first national innovation centres in China. Also known today as the Silicon Valley of China, covering an area of 488 square kilometres, the park is home to nearly 22,000 tech companies.

Over 200 branches and research centres of the world’s top 500 companies have offices in the park.

The aim of creating this collaboration is to transform Pakistan’s tech sector through sharing of the right kind of information about emerging technology and so on.

The ZBRA is an organisation headquartered in Beijing, China and legally registered with the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2022