Pakistan seeks to expand high tech cooperation with China to space, nuclear fields: Minister

Beijing, Aug 7 (PTI) Pakistan wants to deepen technological cooperation with China in the fields of space exploration and nuclear technology, a senior Pakistani minister has said.

Pakistan is keen to strengthen scientific partnerships with China, including in artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing, Pakistan's Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal, who was on a visit to China, told the media.

"I had an opportunity to meet with the new chairman of China’s nuclear authority and the space agency,” Iqbal said in a media briefing early this week, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.  “We also discussed how we can further strengthen our cooperation in peaceful nuclear use of technology by extending nuclear power into agriculture,” he said.

Pakistan’s Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3, which uses the Chinese-made Hualong One reactor, completed its final tests before going into operation, according to the report.

Iqbal said China-Pakistan space cooperation included satellite launches and plans to send Pakistan's astronauts to China's space station next year.

“Later with Chinese help, we will send and land a rover on the moon that will be yet another milestone,” he said.

“Pakistan also aims to have its lunar landing or landing on the moon by 2035, and we have also sought cooperation in this field,” he said.

During his visit to China, Iqbal said he had witnessed the July 31 launch of the Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite-1 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern province of Sichuan. PTI KJV  ZH ZH