By Muhammad Soban ISLAMABAD, May 09 (INP-WealthPK): Pakistan and China have decided to further enhance cooperation in the field of science, technology, and innovation (STI) to provide scientific support and boost development under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It has been decided that more beneficial projects will be added to the CPEC in future. While talking to WealthPK, a senior official in the Ministry of Science and Technology said the China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences at Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Higher Education Commission (HEC), was a major initiative under the CPEC Joint Working Group on Science and Technology, and will serve as a model for future cooperation in the domain of science and technology. "Pakistani and Chinese researchers will conduct research in climate change, natural disasters, sustainable development, ocean, geology, and other related areas. To accomplish the center's goals, the CAS will provide stable research funding to the Chinese research team working in the center every year besides supporting the Pakistani side in personnel training," he stated. The project's total estimated cost is Rs6.811 billion, with a foreign exchange component of Rs4.936 billion for lab equipment, in which the local component is Rs1.875 billion for infrastructure development. China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) will bear the cost to be incurred on research-related equipment, whereas the operational cost and endowment fund need to be supported by the CAS. The center will be multi-disciplinary, and it will improve resilience to natural hazards and mitigate risks of disasters. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology's official statement, a meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Science and Technology was recently conducted via video link as part of the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the CPEC to discuss cooperation in science and technology. The meeting was co-chaired by Dai Gang, Director General of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, and Humaira Ahmed, Federal Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Executive Director of the CPEC Authority Qammar Sarwar Abbasi said the projects under the CEPC program were making great progress. He expressed hope that the deliberations of the meeting will lead to the beginning of some new sci-tech projects. It also highlighted the outstanding results achieved by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) through cooperation in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, the Sino-Pakistani Knowledge Corridor, and people-to-people exchanges, and scientific and technological cooperation.