Pakistani Science & Technology Counsellor Visiting HRC

---On October 24, 2025, Mr. Khan Muhammad, Science and Technology Counsellor of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, visited HRC. Both sides held in-depth discussions on advancing the China-Pakistan "Belt and Road" Joint Laboratory on Small Hydropower Technology. The meeting was attended by Mr. XU Zhifeng, Director General of HRC, along with two deputy Director Generals Mr. DONG Dafu and Ms. SHU Jing.

At the meeting, HRC provided an overview of achievements in the Joint Laboratory’s development and emphasized the importance and necessity of further advancing its construction. HRC hopes to get continued support from Pakistan in areas such as laboratory funding, personnel exchanges, and promotion of relevant applicable technologies in South Asia, so as to sustain and deepen practical cooperation between the two countries in the field of renewable energy.

The Counsellor spoke highly of the Laboratory's active role in promoting technology sharing and capacity building. He stated that Pakistan is willing to facilitate the Laboratory’s development and jointly facilitate it as a platform and demonstrative model for the transfer and application of proven technologies, as well as for practical regional cooperation.

The Joint Laboratory has achieved key milestones since its inception. On April 20, 2015, during the state visit of the Chinese President XI Jinping to Pakistan, President XI and the former Pakistani Prime Minister unveiled the "China-Pakistan Joint Research Center for Small Hydropower". In June 2019, the laboratory was approved as one of the first 14 Belt and Road Joint Laboratories by Chinese government. In October 2023, it was included in the list of practical cooperation outcomes of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. In October 2024, during the Chinese Premier LI Qiang’s visit to Pakistan, the Premier and the Pakistani Prime Minister witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents, which included a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and Pakistani Ministry of Science and Technology to jointly support the construction of China-Pakistan Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Small Hydropower Technology.

Moving forward, HRC will continue to align with the latest trends in Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen strategic thinking, security awareness, systematic planning, and international perspective, actively serve the high-quality development of the water sector, and coordinate efforts in providing technical support both domestically and internationally, as well as implementing the "small is beautiful" projects, thereby contributing to the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. (2025-10-28)