CIRTCS to be established at UAF

The Centre for Integrated Research, Technology and Complete Solutions will be established at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) under Higher Education Commission's (HEC) CPEC programme to address the issues of farming community. It was discussed at the meeting of UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Iqrar Ahmad Khan and HEC's adviser on China Pakistan Economic Corridor, Muhammad Asghar, at the Syndicate Room.
Muhammad Asghar said the country will witness an economic turnaround that would help to ensure sustainable development due to CPEC. He said the CPEC is a hallmark step that would help change the lives of the people. He stressed upon the need to know the Chinese language. He said the HEC is the building the capacity of the people to get benefits from CPEC.
He said that skilled manpower is the guarantee of a bright future. The country lacks the trained manpower in some areas of the engineering including mining engineering, railway engineering and logistics for which tangible steps are needed. He said the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa are full of resources but due to lack of the skilled manpower, we are unable to tap the potential. He said that 5 coastal tourisms places are being planned to develop for tourism.
He urged the UAF to identify the weak areas in the agriculture so that scholars could be sent for higher studies abroad to get benefit from other nations' experiences. Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said it was need of the hour to integrate the knowledge to provide the solutions to the problems of a common man. He viewed that majority of our population was living in the rural areas and depending upon the agriculture sector. He said that the sector was confronting with daunting issues including low productivity, malnutrition, deteriorating water situation and other issues.
He added that country was importing pulses and edible oil worth billions of the rupees whereas we can overcome the import by promoting its cultivation. The country's economy was depending around only 5 crops, he said, adding that we are not taking the advantages of other crops which can be grown easily in the suitable ecology. Talking about Pakistan China Economic Corridor, he said that China and Pakistan are enjoying strengthened and time-tested ties that are more strengthened with China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
He said that we need to develop the skilled manpower to get benefit from the CPEC. He said that UAF academic ties with Chinese universities are being boosted to get benefit from each other experience. He said Chinese universities were proving their mettle globally in every filed. He said that the 36 UAF faculty members had completed their degrees from the China whereas a batch of 9 scholars is being sent to China for higher studies.