| ISLAMABAD (2006-08-01) : Pakistan and United States on Tuesday inked two agreements to promote knowledge-based economic development and ensure long term economic growth.
The first agreement was part of the US government's five year economic growth assistance package worth more than $73 million while the second one was to allow the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) to partner with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in support of initiatives that promote knowledge-based economic development. This bilateral agreement commits $13.7 million for 2006 on the part of USAID.
Addressing the signing ceremony held here at HEC Headquarters, US Ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan C Crocker said the funding will enable USAID to provide over 130,000 loans for micro and small businesses in the four provinces as well as Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata), and enable assistance to more than 50,000 farmers in drought-affected areas of Balochistan with new seeds, livestock and irrigation systems.
In his address, Chairman HEC and Adviser to the Prime Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman expressed his pleasure at the realization, importance of innovation and entrepreneurship.
He shared his excitement at the opportunity of unleashing of the creative talents of the country's 80 million youth through the wide ranging programs offered by the HEC.
Dr Atta mentioned the foreign scholarships through which 400-500 students were being sent abroad for studies while the indigenous scholarship programme was providing the opportunity to students to pursue their doctoral level trainings within Pakistan.
He said to further enhance the strength of faculty in universities, the Foreign Faculty Programme was operating successfully in attracting faculty members working abroad to return to Pakistan and enrich the academic environment.
The HEC chairman said further plans were afoot to develop major initiatives with US in the field of science and technology.
He expressed his determination to expand the programme with CSF as the establishment of six engineering and three technological universities would complement the industry-academic linkage through it technological incubators and parks.
Explaining the steps of technical assistance in the working of CSF, Minister of State for Finance and Chairman CSF Omar Ayub Khan said the CSF would provide matching grants, venture capitals and business incubators and screen the project for eligibility.
He said the collaboration would unlock productivity and technical advancement in universities and result in increased productivity of economy.
The minister said as more technology was commercialized, there would be more impetus to protect intellectual property rights from infringement.
Speaking on the occasion, Executive Director HEC Dr. Sohail Naqvi outlined the manner by which HEC was engaged in investing in building human capital.
He termed research and development the key to development of any country according to its needs and challenges.
He stressed on university-industry partnerships and promoting entrepreneurship to make an impact on the economy.
He said HEC had computerized universities all over Pakistan, the digital library programme provided 20,000 journals and 4000 e-books online.
He also launched the new HEC website and national research repository, a consolidated collection archiving of intellectual output of PhD theses written in Pakistan universities.
At present, it has over 150 PhD theses available online in high quality digitized format while 250 were in the process of being uploaded. An additional 400 were in the process of digitization.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Competitiveness Support Fund Dr Arthur Bayhan presented a report on Regional Conference on Competitiveness and Economic Growth.
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