Belarusian-Pakistani Relations in the Field of Science, Education and Culture

Since 2015 the Sides have been created preconditions for the development of bilateral cooperation in the field of education.

The legal basis for such interaction is the Agreement between the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Federal Education and Vocational Training of Pakistan (signed during the visit of a state delegation led by the President of the Republic of Belarus to Pakistan in May 2015).

Another package of legal documents provides for the development of educational cooperation between the Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus and the Academy of Diplomatic Services of Pakistan, Belarusian State University and the Academy of Diplomatic Services of Pakistan, Belarusian State University and University of Pakistan Qaid-e-Azam, Belarusian State University and the Institute of Information Technology of Pakistan , Minsk State Linguistic University and the National the University of Modern Languages of Pakistan, the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics and the Institute of Information Technology of Pakistan, the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics and the National University of Science and Technology of Pakistan, the Belarusian State Agrarian Technical University and the University of Agriculture of Faisalabad.

In October 2016, a center of the Belarusian language and culture was opened at the National University of Modern Languages of Pakistan. In November 2017, the Department of Urdu language opened in the Minsk State Linguistic University.

During the official visit of the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander G. Lukashenko, to Pakistan in May 2015, the foundations of cooperation in the field of culture were laid. Agreement between the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage of Pakistan on cooperation in the field of culture and the Memorandum of Understanding between the National Library of Belarus and the National Library of Pakistan were signed.

Two other documents provided for the development of cooperation between the National Library of Belarus and the National Library of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, as well as between the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus and the National Book Fund of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan under the “Project of Translation and Publication of Classical Literary Works of Belarus and Pakistan” and the participation of national book publishers trade fairs.

On November 11, 2015, the Belarusian Information and Cultural Center was opened at the National Library of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which is equipped with literature on the history, culture and nature of Belarus, information materials on the development of Belarusian statehood, political and socio-economic structure of society.

On October 3, 2016, the Belarusian Side presented the literature about Belarus in English, and an interactive system “Cube” produced by Horizont enterprise (http://www.horizont.by/).

In the framework of the official visit of the Prime Minister of Pakistan N. Sharif to Minsk in August 2015, the first Pakistani Film Festival was held.

In March 2019, in the framework of the visit of the General Director of BelTA, Mrs. Irina Akulovich the photo exhibition “Sovereign Belarus: People. Events. Achievements” dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries was organized.

On November 25, 2019 the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A.Dapkiunas handed over a facsimile edition “The Book Heritage of Francysk Skaryna” to the Belarus Information and Cultural Center at the National Library of Pakistan.

The Mango Festival in Minsk has become a tradition.

In the field of scientific cooperation, the parties signed two basic documents – the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on cooperation in science and technology (May 29, 2015) and the Agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (May 29, 2015).

Another set of legal documents provides for the development of scientific cooperation between the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Institute of Information Technologies of Pakistan, the Pakistan Literary Academy and the Pakistan Council for Agricultural Research.

In August 2015, the first meeting of the Joint Belarus-Pakistani Commission on Cooperation in Science and Technology was held in Minsk, and the second meeting of the Commission was held on September 22 – 23, 2016 in Islamabad. On December 16 – 19, 2018, the third meeting of the Commission was held in Minsk. On August 17, 2020, the Sides hold the fourth “online” Session of the Commission.

On October 3, 2016, the Belarus-Pakistan Center for the Coordination of Scientific, Technical and Innovative Cooperation was established.

On December 13 – 21, 2017, Pakistan hosted the second Belarus-Pakistan Young Scientists Forum.

On September 26 – 28, 2019  representatives of the the NAS of Belarus and the State Committee for Science and Technology, under the auspices of the National Center for Marketing, took part in the international industrial exhibition IEMA-2019 where they presented their brands and hold talks to enhance cooperation between the two countriesin, common interests and joint projects in the field of science and technology.