By Makhdoom Shehryar Babar
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry Thursday said Pakistan would establish a state of the art Science and Technology Park in collaboration with Russia.
This was agreed by Fawad Chaudhry in a meeting with Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia, Mikhail Kotyukov in Moscow, said a message received here. Both the counterparts discussed possible ways of cooperation between the two countries in the field of science and technology. The federal minister said a high level commission would be established to explore avenues for practical cooperation between Pakistan and Russia. Fawad Chaudhry invited Russian counterpart to visit Pakistan and wished to establish a High Tech University as a Joint Venture with Russia. He also invited Russian companies to contribute in Biotechnology/ Herbal park going to be established in Jhelum.
Russian Minister assured every possible cooperation at the level of research institutions especially in the field of high tech cutting edge technology.
Agencies add: Advisor to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, Amin Aslam talking to the media on Thursday said that Pakistan is planning to save 2 billion dollars in fuel costs by shifting to electric vehicles. The advisor said that the cabinet has given formal approval for the country’s first electric vehicle policy. He added that by incorporating electric vehicles into the consumer market the country will save million in fuel exports and also bring down the adverse effects being caused to the environment due to carbon emissions.
The advisor revealed that electric Rickshaw and Motorcycle factories are to be set up in the country under the new policy. Yesterday, It was revealed that the federal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with private ride-hailing service to introduce electric vehicles in the country. The MoU was signed by Minister of Science and Technology Fawad Hussain Chaudhary and CEO of bus hailing service in Islamabad on Tuesday, according to Radio Pakistan.
Under the MoU, the company will introduce electric battery-powered buses and also spend 12 billion rupees to expand its transport bus service in the country. The federal cabinet meeting, held on November 4, had given approval to the draft policy of electric motor vehicles. The cabinet gave approval to the country’s electric motor vehicle policy.
PM Khan ordered that the commerce and industry and production ministries will provide guidance to the federal government for the implementation of the policy.
