KARACHI, Dec 7: The Acting Director of the International Centre for Chemical Sciences, University of Karachi, Prof Dr Iqbal Choudhry, on Tuesday said expertise in chemical sciences could play a key role in national progress , development and the country's prosperity.

He expressed these views at the inaugural ceremony of a 17-day Workshop on "Use of Latest Spectroscopy in Chemical Sciences", jointly organized by the National Core Group for Chemistry (NCGC) and the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry at the Panjwani Centre KU.

He said it was due to the neglect of chemical sciences in the past as compared to other sciences that the country was importing chemical products, which could easily be manufactured locally.

Dr Choudhry said that all fields including defence, foods, pharmaceuticals and others were connected with chemistry, and as such development could not be achieved without achieving expertise in chemical sciences.

He said that the NCGC project of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was playing an important role in promoting chemical sciences. The group had already organized workshops in Lahore, Peshawar and Jamshoro, he said, adding the current workshop at KU was part of the series.

He appreciated the NCGC grant of post-doctoral scholarships to scholars who had currently earned their PhD degrees. Dr Choudhry said the HEC had established national core groups in four basic sciences to focus on importance of imports of products, which could be manufactured indigenously.

Scientist and senior scholar of the HEJ Dr Waqaruddin invited fresh researchers to bring about their competence in chemical sciences. He distributed awards among the participating technicians of two-week training on 'Glass Blowing'. Dr Khalid M Khan also spoke. - PPI