FAISALABAD, Dec 5: University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Vice-Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad has said Saarc countries can play their role in eliminating poverty from the region through joint ventures in the field of education and research.
Talking to a delegation of the Saarc Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC), Islamabad, here on Friday, the vice-chancellor said cooperation of Saarc countries would also enable nations to provide food and shelter to major portion of the world population. He said the region had a unique geo-strategic location with abundant natural and human resources that must be utilised to bring sustainable development.
“Extending cooperation between member countries and exchanging academic and research delegations for short and long-term training programmes will be a milestone in the way of everlasting development of the region,” he said.
Dr Iqrar informed the members of the delegation that tremendous agriculture development had been witnessed at the time of independence when the population was about 30 million. Owing to the efforts rendered by UAF scientists, revolution was brought out in the agriculture sector that had been feeding 170 million population of Pakistan.
Earlier, SHRDC director Dr Muhammad Aslam said the objective to establish the centre was to promote knowledge and multiple skills in the region that comprised a wide range of work-related knowledge, technical and behavioural skills and to develop capacity of government functionaries, policy-makers, master trainers and development practitioners of the Saarc member states by undertaking training on human resources development (HRD).
He added that SHRDC aimed at conducting research on HRD issues, providing fora for professional interaction, providing services and support to institutions/organisations in the region, disseminating HRD information through seminars, conferences, symposia and workshops, sharing experiences on the implementation of HRD programmes and preparing reports, manuals etc on HRD issues.
He said the publication centre of the SHRDC had so far published various publications about labour and employment, environment population and development and role of HRD in achieving Millennium Development Goals, priority areas of investment in vocational education and skill development in South Asia, integrated HRD approach in the Saarc region, foreign direct investment and HRD, social security arrangements in South Asia and impact of decentralisation on poverty reduction and HRD.
The delegation also visited the Institute of Horticultural Sciences and National Institute of Food Science and Technology.