BEIJING: Pakistan on Thursday participated in the 3rd forum of China-South Asia Technology Transfer and Collaborative Innovation in Kunming, Yunnan.

The forum, 'Innovation Drives Development, Collaboration Wins the Future', was inaugurated by Mr Zhang Jianguo, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, China, was held in Kunming from June 4 to 6, 2018.

In his address, Vice Minister Jianguo highlighted advancements that China had made in recent years with South Asia in expanding and deepening region’s ST and IT sector.

The minister underscored that China was very keen to partner with regional countries in augmenting their resources to grapple with modern breakthroughs happening in the realm of areas such as nanotechnology, IOT, quantum computing, Big Data, etc.

Speaking at the occasion, Mudassir Tipu said that China has made remarkable strides in the AI, Big Data, and the Internet of Things, adding that Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, have emerged as formidable technological giants with global recognition and impact.

"In today’s world technology, development, and growth are wedded into a trilogy. Greater co-operation in science and technology between China and South Asian countries can really be instrumental in addressing many of the complex and deeply-embedded social and economic issues of our region," said the he.

The Consul General added  that  Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Higher Education Commission of Pakistan  may sign a‘Document of Understanding for the Establishment of China-Pakistan Research Centre on Earth Sciences’ in future.

It may be recalled that in recent years, Pakistan and China are closely co-operating in areas of Cyber Security; IOT; Artificial Intelligence; Robotics; Advanced Materials and Nano-sciences; Renewable Energy Technologies; Cold Storage Technologies; Heat-tolerant Genes; Hybrid Seed Technologies; Dry Land Agriculture; and Water Resources.

The Pakistan delegation to the forum included senior members of the NUST (National University of Science and Technology) and PCSIR (Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research).

The keynote speakers at the Forum, apart from the Vice Minister Jianguo, included Afghanistan’s Minister of Communication and IT Shahzad Gul; Nepal’s Minister of Education and ST Girirajmani Pokharel; Sri Lanka’s Minster of ST Sarath Amunugama; and Pakistan’s Consul General to Chengdu, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu.