Pakistan and Syria have agreed to strengthen collaboration in education, skills and scientific research.

The understanding was reached during meeting of Minister for Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer Hussain with Syrian Prime Minister Bassam Bashir Ibrahim and Education Minister Dr. Darem Tabba in Damascus, Syria.

During the meeting, the Syrian Prime Minister said Pakistan is a brotherly country which stood by Syria in its hard times.

The two sides agreed to send a group of 10-15 school level students to Islamabad and Damascus for 10 days to get familiarity about the education and culture of both countries.

It was also agreed that Allama Iqbal Open University and National Curriculum Council Pakistan will collaborate with Syrian Directorate of distance learning for knowledge exchange and establishment of AIOU campus in Syria.

They also agreed to form a Joint Working Group of senior education official as well as ambassadors of the two countries for further collaboration and materializing the agreements.

Underscoring the importance of agriculture sector in both countries, Rana Tanveer Hussain proposed a consortium of agriculture and livestock between Pakistani and Syrian universities to encourage MSc & PhD scholars to carry out joint research in agriculture.

He said Higher Education Commission will establish Pakistani cultural corners in Syrian universities in different cities while National College of Arts will establish a Visual Arts Center in Syria.

Rana Tanveer Hussain visited the Pakistan International School Damascus and other distinguished educational and learning instiututes in Syria and attended launching ceremony of educational initiative "Iqra (read)" in Damascus.

The Syrian side said that President of Syria has approved a special program for Pakistani students and faculty to avail scholarships in various Syrian universities and Syria will also work out for establishing a cultural center in Islamabad.

Source: Radio Pakistan