Pakistan is deepening technological cooperation with China, expanding beyond aircraft and missiles to advanced sectors such as space exploration and nuclear technology, according to the country’s planning minister.
Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan’s minister for planning, development and special initiatives, said the country was keen to strengthen scientific partnerships with China, including in artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. He made the comments on Monday at the Pakistani embassy in Beijing during his week-long visit to China.
“I had an opportunity to meet with the new chairman of China’s nuclear authority and the space agency,” Iqbal said.
“We also discussed how we can further strengthen our cooperation in peaceful nuclear use of technology by extending nuclear power into agriculture.”
In April, Pakistan’s Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3, which uses the Chinese-made Hualong One reactor, completed its final tests before going into operation. It is the second unit at the Karachi power plant to use the Chinese reactor.
Hualong One is China’s independently developed third-generation pressurised water reactor. Each unit can generate over 10 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power annually. The two reactors at the Karachi facility are the first Hualong One reactors that China has exported.
