STAFF REPORT ISB: The contributions of Pakistani nuclear scientists are
inevitable in global research. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear
Research has conferred the Associate Membership to Pakistan.
According to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), this is a distinct
achievement of Pakistan making it the 11th overall and only Asian country to have
associate membership of CERN.
A senior CERN official while commenting on Pakistan`s associate membership
said, “The associate membership will allow Pakistan to participate in governance
of CERN by attending high level meetings. The scientists of Pakistan can also now
get exposure of CERN by obtaining membership and participating in different
trainings conducted by CERN in diversified domains of research including nuclear
and particular physics in particular. The industry of Pakistan can also bid for
CERN contracts”.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan contributes to the ALICE and CMS
experiments in addition to accelerator developments, making it a crucial partner of
CERN.
The cooperation of Pakistan and CERN dates back to 1994, when a mutual
cooperation agreement was signed between the both. Pakistan was given the
membership in 2013 which was followed by visit of CERN task force to evaluate
Pakistan`s SandT capability and industrial competency in order to process Pakistan`s
associate membership application that approved Pakistan`s application on the set
criteria and this important announcement has been made.