Islamabad - The Ambassador of France to Pakistan Dr Marc Barety assured the Higher Education Commission of improving bilateral academic ties and cooperation between the two countries.  The newly-appointed ambassador, in his visit to HEC, said that Pakistan and France will see improved academic relations.

Chairman HEC Dr Mukhtar Ahmed shed light on a few project jointly run by the HEC and French partners including PERIDOT, a Franco-Pakistani Hubert Curien Partnership providing opportunities to Pakistani and French researchers to interact for joint research activities.  He informed the ambassador that Pakistan Day was celebrated in Campus France while French Day was organised in Pakistan which showed the commitment to strong relations on both sides.

The chairman said that since its inception in 2002, HEC aims to develop higher education by ensuring equitable access, relevant research activities and quality of education.

“Pakistan has a population of 100 million youth and it is a gold mine which needs to be tapped,” he said. He revealed that HEC is committed to providing maximum opportunities to youth in view of its mission to harbinger a knowledge-based economy.

Referring to various academic activities carried out by HEC, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said HEC recently held a festival on archaeology entitled ‘Heritage Now’ in Lahore. He maintained that over 20,000 people including foreign researchers and French academics attended the event. He emphasised that the academia needs to promote constructive science for a prosperous future of the whole world. “We are blessed to have this opportunity and are duty-bound to contemplate how to address the miseries of mankind,” the chairman stated.