ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan has attained the status of an associate member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), becoming the first non-European country to achieve this status.
The agreement between Pakistan and CERN for associate membership was signed on December 19, 2014 in Islamabad by the Chairman Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and the Director General of CERN.
The agreement took effect upon submission of the instrument of ratification on Friday (July 31, 2015) by the Permanent Representative of Pakistan in Geneva Ambassador Zamir Akram to the Director General of CERN.
“Associate Membership of CERN is a recognition of Pakistan’s impressive credentials in the field of science and technology in general and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in particular,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Office in Islamabad on Friday.
The statement said that Pakistan has already made significant contributions to CERN’s flagship experimental project, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
“As an Associate Member of CERN, Pakistan looks forward to benefitting from, and contributing more intensively to, the increasingly innovative and challenging scientific initiatives undertaken at CERN. Deeper involvement in such initiatives will bring long term benefits to the people of Pakistan and contribute to our socio-economic development through the use of scientific breakthroughs and innovative technologies,” it said.
