Ambassador, Federal Republic of Somalia, Ali Sheikh Abdullahi visits UAF

Ambassador, Federal Republic of Somalia, Ali Sheikh Abdullahi on Monday said that Muslim countries are blessed with tremendous natural resources but unfortunately, they could not tap the potential which is the hurdle to make further progress. He was talking to University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan at his chamber. Public Relations and Publications Principal Officer Prof Dr Jalal Arif and Director External Linkages Prof Dr Ashfaq Ahmad Chattha were present on the occasion. The envoy also called for more strengthening the cooperation among the both countries especially in academia and agricultural sector. He said: “Somalia is largely dependent on livestock and fisheries. The areas of agriculture, veterinary, pharmacy and engineering need to be strengthened. In this regard, he sought cooperation of University for building capacity of Somalian students. He said that at present as many as 500 Somalian students were enrolled to various institutions of Pakistan including UAF. He said that one of UAF Alumnus Noor-ud-Din is standing among the top political leadership of his country. He said that Pakistan was producing mangoes of good quality so that the country can earn heavy foreign exchange by exporting it to other continents. UAF VC Prof. Dr. Iqrar A Khan assured of full cooperation in order to building their capacity of Somalia students. He said that the University has devised a mechanism of integration of livestock, fisheries to agriculture. Under the system, the saline water is mixed with poultry waste for fisheries whereas the water after recycling was used for agriculture. He said the UAF is executing various international programs with Australian, Americans, Canadians, Turkish, Koreans, German and other technological advanced countries of the world to strengthen agricultural sector. He added: “such two-way exchange of knowledge always brings fruits for both countries and the institutions in many ways”. The Ambassador also met Dean Faculty of Sciences Prof Dr Muhammad Javed at Dean Office and visited post harvest lab.