ISLAMABAD: The government has prepared draft roadmap aimed at reinvigorating and enhancing Pakistan- France bilateral cooperation in all fields including political, economic, education, culture, science & technology and counter-terrorism, sources in the Foreign Ministry told Business Recorder.
A draft roadmap for bilateral cooperation, sources said, was shared by Pakistan with France during 13th session of Pakistan-France Bilateral Political Consultations held in 2018 in Islamabad.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sources said, had shared the following draft roadmap with all the concerned ministries for comments: (i) support efforts for increased scientific and technological cooperation, in particular in the fields of environment, climate change, green technologies, information and communication technology, e- commerce, digitalization of economies, Fintech and also encourage new linkages in the fields of agriculture, engineering, medical sciences, humanities, social sciences and management sciences. Such cooperation shall be promoted through new specific projects, and signing of necessary agreements between universities, higher education institutions and industries in both countries; (ii) explore venues for training cooperation in the field of nuclear medicine; (iii) continue development assistance in line with the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, with a particular focus on the three areas where the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) is active, namely (a) energy (green energy), power transmission and sector reform), (b) sustainable urban development (public transportation, water & sanitation) and (c) adaptation to climate change. Proparco, the AFD’s subsidiary in charge of the private sector, will continue developing non-sovereign lending for green energy, microfinance, agro-business, higher education and health sectors; (iv) promote cooperation in education, including through, inter alia, enhancing and regularizing links between academic and research institutions, universities, think tanks, offering scholarships and programmes of faculty and students exchange and developing technical and vocational training (capacity building, training of trainers, expertise to raise the quality of technical and vocational Centres, quality assessment, exploring the possibilities of future accreditation of Pakistan TVET institutes and working on systems of equivalence of qualification, etc.). The two sides would support missions of both countries’ institutions aiming at further developing cooperation in this domain and future cooperation with the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC); (v) pursue the development of post-doctoral training to Pakistani professors and researchers and encourage the development of short-term visits of PhD and post-doc scholars studying in Pakistani or French institutions to the partner country institutions to work on research projects; (vi) strengthen and advance cultural and linguistic linkages, including through, inter alia, holding joint festivals, cultural weeks, education weeks and exchange of musicians, artists, cultural troupes, teachers and entrepreneurs from fashion industry as well as encourage Pakistani culture professionals to visit France for programmes operated by the French Ministry of Culture and Sustain young emerging creators and artists in Pakistan; (vii) hold regular meetings with the Embassy to coordinate and review progress on culture cooperation; and (viii) further deepen cooperation among relevant ministries, departments and institutions of the two sides in the fields of heritage, archaeology, museums, etc.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022