KARACHI: The Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) of Pakistan and a Chinese association have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to promote high-quality science and technological exchanges between China and Pakistan, a statement said.

Zhongguancun Belt and Road Industrial Promotion Association of the People’s Republic of China (ZBRA) President Zhang Xiaodong, and STZA Chairman Amer Hashmi signed the LOI at a virtual ceremony.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Affairs Khalid Mansoor were also present.

Under the framework of China Pakistan cooperation, ZBRA will jointly work with STZA on deepening all-around cooperation among academic institutions, research and development centres, industries, and technological enterprises of the two countries.

The STZA aims to initiate a collaboration with the ZBRA to promote the scientific and technological exchanges between China and Pakistan including information sharing on science and technology development experience; development of a complete ecosystem; new and emerging technologies; and construction and management of technology zones. Both parties aim to facilitate exchanges between high-tech enterprises of both countries in the areas of semiconductors, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, fintech, blockchain, and biotech for mutually beneficial cooperation.

This collaboration is another cornerstone of STZA’s goal of transforming Pakistan’s human capital into a high-end future workforce within the tech industry of Pakistan and creating many opportunities for the youth of Pakistan.

The Zhongguancun Science Park, also known as Z-Park, was established in 1988 as one of the first science parks and first national innovation demonstration centres in China.

It is also known today as the “Silicon Valley of China”. Covering an area of 488 square kilometres, Z-Park includes 16 member-parks, and is home to nearly 22,000 high-tech companies.

Global companies like Lenovo, Baidu, BOE, Didi-global, Xiaomi and Beigene started up from Z-Park, as did over 80 Unicorn companies such as Toutiao, Mggvii and Cambricon. Over 200 branches and R&D centres of the world’s Top 500 companies have offices at Zhongguancun Science Park.

The ZBRA is an organisation headquartered in Beijing and legally registered with the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau. ZBRA’s mission is to serve Chinese enterprises for high-quality development of the Belt and Road, which will be achieved through projects docking, science and technology parks cooperation, and international talents training.