The Agriculture Commissioner, Embassy of People`s Republic of China Dr Gu Wenliang visited the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore and called on Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Masood Rabbani at City Campus. Meanwhile a detailed meeting of the Chinese delegation was held with UVAS senior faculty members and agriculture stakeholders from public- private sector.
Prof Dr Masood Rabbani along with Dr Gu Wenliang co-chaired the meeting and sought issues, suggestions, collaborative areas and technical inputs from stakeholders to uplift the livestock and agriculture sectors.
Addressing the meeting, Prof Dr Masood Rabbani said that UVAS has a strong liaison with private sector and is working closely with poultry, dairy industries and livestock farming community by using its knowledge, research and training of manpower to solve different issues of industries and farming community. He emphasized that immediate measures are needed to overcome current hurdles in meat export to China, which is a big market and it can only possible through out of box approach.
An open discussion was held and participants put forward various suggestions for development of livestock and agriculture sector in Pakistan. Members of the meeting called for a need to enhance collaboration with China for working together to curb the impediments involved in livestock and agriculture sector. They recommended working with Chinese experts would be beneficial for both livestock and agriculture sector of Pakistan and through this collaboration best practices and knowledge learn from Chinese experts related to control of Foot and Mouth (FMD) deadly disease of livestock and also to enhance agriculture fruits and vegetables production. The participants suggested UVAS had the strength of business students and faculty in business school with research expertise and they can be used for studying marketing trends and consumer perceptions in perspective of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC) development.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor briefed Chinese delegation on UVAS history, campuses, faculties, labs, academic, research and development projects, 24/7 clinical services, various farmers, butchers & dairy training programmes, national & international collaborations, industry linkages and ongoing projects.