YANGLING, Jul. 4 – Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif expressed his willingness to enhance agricultural cooperation with China’s Yangling Agricultural Technology Demonstration Base in a recent letter to Mr. Shi Gaoling, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Base.
On June 8, the PM arrived in Yangling Agricultural Technology Demonstration Base, Shaanxi province during his first official visit to China after the new Pakistani government took office. After visiting the Modern Agriculture Exchange Center of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and the ‘plant factory’ of Yangling Smart Agricultural Demonstration Park, “I was impressed by the cutting edge technology on display which has transformed Yangling into a world-class agricultural marvel of the world,” he said in the letter.
According to the letter, the PM had asked his team to study ‘Yangling Model’ and replicate the best practices so that they can also develop high-quality and high-yield crops in Pakistan. Having learned that the Chinese side is willing to share expertise in that regard, the Pakistani side said they hope to send Pakistani agricultural researchers, scientists and students to work closely with the Chinese counterparts in future.
In recent years, there have been increasingly closer cooperation and exchange between the Pakistani agricultural authorities & institutions and Yanling Agricultural Technology Demonstration Base. Up till now, over 120 Pakistani government officials, experts, private enterprise leaders and farm owners have participated in agricultural technology training in Yangling. At present, there’re 142 Pakistani students studying at Northwest A&F University, one of China’s top agricultural universities located in Yangling.