Professor Mushtaq Ahmad from Quaid-i-Azam University, a member of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, and Professor Zhang Lixin from NWAFU chaired the event. Co-organizers included the Silkroad (Yangling) Biohealth Agricultural Industry Alliance (SBHAIA), the Sino-Pak Research Center for Agro-Biological Resources, the Sino-Pak Agricultural Cooperation and Exchange Centre, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan, and the Shaanxi Hybrid Rapeseed Research Centre.
Over 200 representatives from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Malaysia, Czech Republic, Iran, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, and Ethiopia participated both online and offline. In his keynote speech, Luo Jun, Vice President of NWAFU, emphasized the opportunity for discussions on enhancing food safety through agricultural biodiversity and smart multifunctional agriculture.
The forum also focused on fostering the development of green, smart agriculture, and biodiversity through scientific and technological collaboration among countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.
Luo further mentioned ongoing research on potential crops, Chinese medicinal plants, and energy plant varieties, contributing to the development of technical systems for biodiversity, ecological restoration, bio-healthy agricultural products, and agricultural environmental management. Khan Muhammad Wazir, Scientific Counsellor of the Pakistani Embassy in China, highlighted the importance of accelerating cooperation in agricultural talent training, establishing joint laboratories, building demonstration parks, and advancing smart agriculture.
Professor Zabta Khan Shinwari, President of Federal Urdu University of Science and Technology, Pakistan, and Professor Shukhrat Shokirov, Vice President of Tashkent University of Water Resources and Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Uzbekistan, both expressed strong support for enhancing China-Pakistan and China-Uzbekistan agricultural cooperation with NWAFU. The forum featured 20 keynote reports on biodiversity, bio-healthy agricultural production, and green, smart agriculture, presented by both Chinese and Pakistani speakers.
