US, Pakistan Launch Cooperative Science and Technology Projects

WASHINGTON, October 29 (Online): The United States and Pakistan are joining forces to build Pakistan's science and technology capacity, contributing a combined $3 million for 2004 and $5.5 million for 2005 for projects that focus on improving education and creating technical links between the countries.

Eighteen cooperative projects for 2004 were officially launched September 28-29 in Islamabad at the first joint committee meeting under the U.S.-Pakistan Science and Technology Agreement.

The projects, funded with $1 million from Pakistan -- $500,000 each from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and the Higher Education Committee -- and $2 million from the United States, include supplying scientific journal content to the nationwide university digital library system, bringing telemedicine capabilities to rural areas, creating linkages between U.S. and Pakistan scientific centers of excellence, and improving Pakistan's water quality.

"The Pakistan Science and Technology Agreement is very exciting," said Lee Morin, deputy assistant secretary for health, space and science at the U.S. Department of State and leader of the U.S. delegation to Pakistan.

"It represents a reinvigoration of an agreement that came out of a 2002 meeting at Camp David between President Bush and Pakistani President [Pervez] Musharraf. It provides a mechanism for U.S. federal technical agencies to work with a foreign government."

The joint committee -- co-chaired by Morin and Shehryar Khan, MoST joint technical adviser -- reviewed more than 50 submitted proposals, the majority from Pakistan, from which the final 18 projects were chosen.

The selection process was overseen by State Department Senior Science Officer Barrett Ripin and MoST Joint Scientific Advisor Atta-ur-Rahman. Rahman is an internationally renowned expert in natural products chemistry and the author of 35 technical books. He also was instrumental in generating U.S. enthusiasm for the agreement, Ripin said.

Shortly after the Bush-Musharraf meeting in 2002, Ripin said, "Minister Rahman came to Washington and held a meeting with the science and technology community, technical agencies and others ... and outlined what Pakistan was doing in science and technology. Rahman wowed the crowd with his command of and forward thinking about how to improve or increase Pakistan's capacity through upgrading the education system and information technology."

After the meeting, Ripin added, "Rahman challenged the United States to engage in a science and technology program of substance by offering $500,000 of Pakistan money if the United States would match it two to one."

Later, when the United States pledged $2 million, Rahman raised Pakistan's contribution to $1 million.

"Each of the 18 projects," Ripin said, "is designed to foster links between U.S. and Pakistan people and institutions, build civilian science and technology capacity, and emphasize education."

The largest single project in the education area involves supplying scientific journal content. The U.S. National Academies of Science will help the Higher Education Committee purchase licenses for major science, technology and engineering journals, which will be integrated into Pakistan's existing digital library system.

A class of projects called linkages, Ripin said, is designed to enhance or create links between centers of excellence in Pakistan and counterparts in the United States, and links between scientists and students.

"In the first year there is an emphasis on health and physical sciences," he said. "These linkages not only provide opportunities for Pakistani students and faculty to collaborate with U.S. counterparts, but also the reverse."

In another set of projects, the Pakistan Council for Renewable Water Resources received funding to improve Pakistan's water resources by collaborating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of Energy. Projects include collaborating on agricultural watershed management, helping design a water quality measurement program, and developing a desalination facility to provide a reliable source of drinking water.

"Drinking water is a critical resource for sustainable development," Morin said. "It's an important need and the Pakistanis have done important work in this area," including developing practical, low-cost, quantitative chemical test kits for detecting arsenic, bacteria, and other contaminants in drinking water.

In an effort to help Pakistan build its credibility in the world community and its own capacity in a number of areas, Ripin said, three projects link the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology to Pakistan's National Accreditation Council and the Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority.

The aim is to build Pakistan's capacity in physical metrology (the science of measurements), standards development and quality management capacity, Ripin said.

Another capacity-building project is a telemedicine collaboration between the Pakistanis and U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command. "Two Pakistani medical doctors trained for a month with the Army Medical Center at Fort Detrick in Maryland so they could set up a model program in 2005 [in Islamabad]," Ripin said.

Looking ahead to 2005, the State Department and the joint committee are working to institutionalize the process of science and technology collaboration between Pakistan and the United States. The Pakistani government pledged $3.5 million for fiscal year 2005 and the United States pledged $2 million.

Soon, Ripin said, the joint committee will put out a call for proposals for $5.5 million worth of projects for 2005. "They will be peer reviewed and go through a process of selection on technical merit," he said, "and how well they fit with the capacity-building emphasis.

"I'm told that the program is being viewed within the State Department as a model for U.S. engagement with countries in the developing world," Ripin said. "We're looking forward to another year."
======================================================
Copyright C. 2002 - 2004
Pakistan Science and Engineering Forum (R)
"Kindling the Flame of Science in Pakistan (TM)"
PakSEF (TM) Daily Science News Update
=====================================================