Daily Times

The 1st annual meeting of China-Pakistan Joint Lab on Wheat Molecular Breeding was successfully held in Beijing on May 8.
Six senior wheat scientists from Pakistan were invited to China for a 10-day training and attended the meeting.

During the visit, according to China Economic Net (CEN), Pakistani researchers held meeting with senior Chinese scientists and paid visits to wheat production system – in three different Chinese provinces – including national and provincial wheat research programs of China, farmers’ fields and China’s corporate farming system.

The Science and Technology Wing of the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing facilitated the visit and provided logistic support.

“The collaboration is expected to develop new wheat varieties with high yield and disease resistance and to enhance the capacity of wheat breeders and technical staff,” Khan Muhammad Wazir, Science and Technology Counsellor at the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing, told China Economic Net. The China-Pakistan Joint Lab on Wheat Molecular Breeding is recently established with the support of Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) of China. One branch of the lab was established in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing while the other branch was established in Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan.

Through the platform of the joint lab, scientists from both countries will conduct collaborative research on molecular breeding, test and select Chinese wheat germplasm in Pakistan, train scientists & technical personnel from Pakistan and organize workshops.