Ms. Mariam Aftab, the Ambassador of Pakistan to Bulgaria visited the Agricultural Academy of Bulgaria (AAB) today and met with its President Prof. Eng. Martin Banov. Prof. Banev was accompanied by Prof. Elena Todorovska, Chief Scientific Secretary and Mr. Ivan Nenov, Director of International Cooperation of AAB. The purpose of the visit was to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Scientific and Technical Cooperation in the Field of Agricultural Research between Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and Agricultural Academy of Bulgaria (AAB) as well as to discuss possible avenues of collaboration/cooperation between the two countries in the field of agricultural research and technology.

Welcoming the Ambassador to the Academy, Prof. Banev expressed pleasure on the fact that the two countries were finally signing this MoU after prolonged negotiations. He said that signing of this MoU would be the first step towards a more meaning and fruitful collaboration between the two countries in this all-important field of agricultural technologies and research.

Ambassador Mariam Aftab thanked the President of AAB for the warm reception. She highlighted that both Pakistan and Bulgaria rely heavily on their agricultural sectors and, therefore, the two countries had a lot to learn from each other’s experiences and expertise in the agricultural-related technologies. She said that PARC was interested in learning from Bulgarian experiences in the field of germplasm for cereals, fruits and vegetable crops, value-addition and reducing post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables, processing and value addition of milk and meat products, veterinary vaccines production technology and control of infectious diseases in animals, exploitation of alternate energy resources for agriculture and collaboration in fabricating farm machinery.

The Ambassador also expressed her appreciation of the fact that the two institutions were engaging actively and assured her full support for any proposals which they finalize in future under the MoU. She also informed the President that  she would be meeting the new Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Education from Bulgaria soon to discuss the possibility of exchange of students/professors as well as award of scholarships to students from the two countries on reciprocal basis.

At the end of meeting, the Ambassador and President of AAB signed the MoU on Scientific and Technical Cooperation in the Field of Agricultural Research.

/Press Release Embassy of Pakistan in Bulgaria