ISLAMABAD:Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology in a meeting held here on Friday deliberated over the public petition regarding amendment in the Pakistan
Engineering Council Act 1976 referred to the Committee by the Chairman Senate of Pakistan.
The committee recommended that both fields of engineering and technology must fall under the same umbrella. The meeting was chaired by Senator Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Shibli Faraz, speaking during the meeting, directed the ministry to review the matter in great detail.
He said that all our efforts must be made to ensure these issues are resolved.
Secretary Ministry of Science and Technology briefed regarding the organizational structure and key functions of the ministry.
Committee was informed that the main focus of the ministry was to ensure major strides in Research and Development and quality control so that all innovation in various undertaken fields could be commercialized.
PSDP has been doubled as current number of projects in PSDP 2020-2021 are 32 whereas PSDP 2021-2022 are 44.
The committee was informed that major accolades have been achieved by the various departments that fall under the Ministry these include Pakistan being declared full signatory of the Washington Accord; development of a cardiac stent as an import substitute; development and sale of different types of scientific /biomedical equipment and development of strategic chemicals and equipment materials for the Pakistan Ordinance Factories.
The committee was apprised of the other accomplishments including National University of Science and Technology (NUST) ranked amongst the top 500 universities of the world and launching of the National Science Talent Framing Program that awards 300 scholarships annually.
It has also strengthened research collaboration with international organizations
such as IROST, UNESCO, KOICA, AFANCA, NSF China, TUBITAK Turkey, BellSa
Belarus and YASTI China. Establishment of water testing laboratories is a major achievement too.
The committee stressed the need for industrial collaboration for projects undertaken by the Ministry; it was asserted that need based solutions was the need of the hour and must be the focus of all scientific innovation in the country.
The committee recommended that in order to strengthen the economy import substitutes must be pursued.
The committee was provided details of the vast range of attached departments and agencies that fall under the ambit of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
National Institute of Oceanography and Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority further briefed the committee about its structure and work.
The Committee ratified Senator Sana Jamali as member of the Board of Governors of the Pakistan Halal Authority.
The meeting was attended by Senator Fawzia Arshad, Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Liaqat Khan Tarakai, Senator Hidayat Ullah, Senator Kamran Murtaza, Senator Afnanullah Khan and senior officers of the Ministry along with all concerned.