The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, represented by its Embassy in Pakistan and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan signed a Letter for Intent at HEC Secretariat on Tuesday. The Letter of Intent, signed by Philippe Thiebaud, Ambassador of France in Pakistan and Professor Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman HEC, is within the framework of cultural, scientific and technical co-operation between France and Pakistan. Both sides have agreed to implement the Hubert Curien Partnership (PHC), called Peridot Research Programme.
The objective of this programme is to develop new scientific and technological co-operation between French and Pakistani research laboratories by supporting the mobility of researchers. This partnership will be led jointly in France by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR), represented by its Embassy in Pakistan, and in Pakistan by the HEC. The French organisation that will manage these programmes is Campus France.
The programme will allow the co-operation of French and Pakistani scientific teams on joint research projects. A call for projects will be published annually to receive applications in France and in Pakistan. The joint research projects submitted simultaneously in both countries will be selected and evaluated by the subject experts.
The short-listed or recommended projects will be re-evaluated by a French-Pakistani Joint Committee for selection and approval. The Committee will meet every year alternately in Pakistan and in France. The tender will only concern selected laboratories and research teams dependent on Institutes, Universities or Higher education institutions. All fields of knowledge are eligible and duration of each project will be of three years.
Dr Mukhtar Ahmed thanked the French Government for taking steps to enhance scientific and technical co-operation between the two countries, which he said will certainly provide an opportunity to Pakistani researchers to further enhance R&D collaboration at international level. The Ambassador welcomed the step to further higher education through enhancing university partnerships. He termed the mutual co-operation a key to development.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed.