Dairy Science Park – China Collaboration: A power pint presentation
A delegation of Dairy Science Park led by the Chief Patron Prof M Subhan Qureshi, discussed scientific and business collaboration with St Fulin Group Co Ltd, China during the CPEC Summit 2016 held at Pak-China Friendship Center, Islamabad.
DSP envisions to support the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), northern Pakistan (Gilgit-Baltistan), and the adjoining Chinese regions through appropriate utilization of livestock resources for generating self-employment and hygienic food production. This would require logistic support like livestock slaughtering, meat processing, cold storage, and chilled transportation to the desired destinations in the local and international market.
DSP would register the selected farmers, processors, veterinary clinics, research and diagnostic labs, and development partners for standardizing and certifying the quality of materials and services. DSP Board of the Government of KP would provide financial and regulatory support to the partner organizations and the proposed University of Veterinary Innovations and Commercialization would provide research and academic support to the project.
The Senior Minister KP, Ex-Chief Minister KP/present Minister for Housing Government of Pakistan, and the Chairman Higher Education Commission of Pakistan have endorsed DSP and ensured their support in its implementation, as reflected in the DSP Society Profile, July 2016.
We appreciate St Fulin Group to the Chief Minister KP to establish science parks and investment plans. DSP offers its collaboration with St. Fulin Group. We would like to utilize Sino Pak International Logistics Complex in Tashkurgan County as a new mode international logistics service platform. We suggest establishment of a central facility at Peshawar (KP) and regional facilities at Gilgit. We would like to launch collaborative research with our local universities with Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences as per our letter of intent (attached), signed with Prof Gang Li.
Dairy Science Park would like to link the local livestock, especially the meat farmer and processors with the Chinese companies for trade of hygienic and halal certified mutton, beef, turkeys, and rabbit meat.
Pursuant to the discussion between delegation of Dairy Science Park and According to Daily Times, 16 September, 2016, a four-member mission of visited the Chief Minister’s office KP who referred them to Secretary Agriculture. The visiting group was disappointed with the behavior of the bureaucrats and considered the future of a potential Chinese investment worth millions of dollars in the field of Livestock and Dairy products in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as bleak after the Special Assistant to the Chief Minister recently declined the visiting Chinese investors, according to official sources.
Chinese representatives of Saint Fulin Group were said to have called on the Special Assistant for Livestock, Muhibullah Khan. However, his denial to sign the previously agreed-upon Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) withheld the deal at the eleventh hour. If signed, the agreement would have enabled the Chinese group to invest millions of dollars in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the field of Livestock and Dairy products development.
St Faulin Group spokesperson, Miss Echo, opined, “The official meeting at the Peshawar Secretariat was expected to go well as we hoped that everything was on course. However, instead of signing the MOU, the government special representative treated us in a very humiliating manner before calling the deal off.”
Interestingly, the group had managed to sign a similar MOU with the Provincial government of Punjab on Wednesday. Federal Minister for Food Security, Sikandar Hayat Bosan, was said to have signed the MOU, which would be implemented in Punjab under the supervision of Punjab Government Livestock department.
According to a source in the livestock department in Peshawar, the deal had largely failed because of vehement opposition of some bureaucrats, which included Deputy Secretary Agriculture, Shaukat Yousfzai; Additional Chief Secretary, Azam Khan and Secretary Agriculture, Jameel Ahmad. “They did not give any reason for canceling the agreement with the Chinese group against the wishes of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak,” the source further added
He also believed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Pervaz Khattak, was, however, interested to avail Chinese investment for the province but the bureaucratic circles kept on declining these investment proposals every now and then.
St Faulin Group Public Relations Officer, Scarlet, noted that the officials had treated the Chinese investors in a highly impolite manner during the meeting. “The attitude of the special Assistant for Livestock was hostile with us, which greatly disappointed us as we wanted to invest in KP,” she maintained.
The group was said to have visited Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as many as three times since 2014 when the provincial government had assured them regarding the agreement. However, it was still rejected without any clear reason, she added. “Our group was interested to invest in the breeding of the different cattle like donkeys, cows etc with modern technologies but unfortunately we have decided not to bring any more projects to KP as here attitude towards foreign investors is very strange,” the official asserted.
Dairy Science Park has been trying to renew the cooperation through visit of Prof Qureshi to Xi’an, Engr Irfan to Beijing and Mr Paracha to Tashkurgan County. A letter of intent has been signed with Chinese Acadamy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing for scientific, industrial and trade collaboration.
