The strong ties between ICTP and Pakistan's scientific community have just become stronger with the signing of a memorandum of agreement.

Science in Pakistan

Parvez Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), visited Trieste in September to sign a memorandum of agreement with ICTP that will enable 25 Pakistani scientists to visit the Centre each year to participate in training and research activities. PAEC will cover travel costs to and from Pakistan, and ICTP will cover hospitality costs during the scientists' stay in Trieste.

K.R. Sreenivasan and Parvez Butt signing memorandum of agreement in Abdus Salam's office.
Abdullah Sadiq looks on.

Butt noted that "this effort is the latest example of a long and fruitful relationship between ICTP and Pakistan's scientific community." He pointed with pride to the fact that ICTP was founded by Pakistani-born scientist Abdus Salam (Nobel Laureate in Physics 1979) during the 1960s and that Salam continued to oversee the administration of the Centre until the early 1990s when ill health forced him to relinquish the reins.
"ICTP," he said, "has been a primary point of destination for Pakistani physicists and mathematicians ever since the Centre opened its doors in 1964." Indeed over the past 40 years, more than 1300 Pakistani scientists have participated in ICTP research and training activities. In addition, more than 90 scientists have been appointed ICTP Associates, which has enabled them to forge strong and lasting relationships with the Centre. ICTP Associates from Pakistan include Riazuddin, director, National Centre for Physics, (NCP); Ghulam Murtaza, first Salam professor of physics at Government College in Lahore; and Abdullah Sadiq, former rector of the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) and a member of PAEC.
"Salam spent his entire adult life urging Pakistan and the rest of the developing world to secure a proper place for science in their plans for development. He was convinced that a nation's development efforts could only be built on a firm foundation of science and technology."
"For decades Salam was more renowned outside of Pakistan than inside," says Butt. "But that is no longer the case. Even more importantly, Salam's ideas are finally taking hold in Pakistan's science policies." Butt points proudly to more than a seven-fold increase from US$4.4 million in 1999-2000 to US$34 million in 2004-2005 in Pakistan's annual science and technology budget. He also cites substantial investments in communication technologies that have enabled virtually every university and research centre in Pakistan to be connected to the internet. Other areas of primary concern include biotechnology and indigenous and medicinal plants.
"Thanks in large measure to ICTP, Pakistan has developed a strong community of physicists and mathematicians and we are now able to tap this pool of scientists to participate in a wide range of disciplines where knowledge of physics and mathematics can play an important role. These fields include weather and climate, bioinformatics, lasers and optics, and nanotechnology."
PAEC has historically been Pakistan's largest and most active science institution. In total, PAEC consists of 72 centres, including the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (with a staff of 20,000, it is the premier centre in PAEC's constellation of centres) and the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Science that awards degrees in a variety of fields. The National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) conducts advanced research in the fields of agriculture and medicine, and 13 medical centres serve some 300,000 patients each year.
"Today," says Butt, "specialised science centres unaffiliated with PAEC are cropping up everywhere in Pakistan in both the basic and applied sciences. The growing number and diversity of these centres is a reflection of the government's commitment to science. Our desire to strengthen our ties with ICTP, moreover, is an indication that Pakistan is increasingly interested in reaching out to international organisations and we are using more and more of our own resources to do so. All in all, the trends for science in Pakistan look good."

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