HEC, Export Development Fund Ink MoU to Amplify Pakistan’s Exports

DNA

ISLAMABAD, May 27, 2025: Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan and the Export Development Fund (EDF), an autonomous body operating under the Ministry of Commerce, signed on Tuesday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly work on projects critical to magnify the country’s exports. 

Executive Director HEC Engr. Dr. Mazhar Saeed and Executive Director EDF Syed Abbas Mehdi signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions. Chairman HEC Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed and Secretary Ministry of Commerce Mr. Jawad Paul also graced the ceremony, which was attended by a senior officers from the two sides.

This MoU lays the groundwork for significant investment to enhance country’s export-oriented research which will provide ways and means for technology transfer. The projects to be funded shall be selected through committee of experts comprising of officials from industry, HEC and EDF. This partnership directly tackles long-standing challenges faced by Pakistani exporters in value addition, promising to unlock new opportunities and boost the nation’s global trade performance.

The collaboration will focus on five critical areas such as boosting research grants, establishing advanced research and testing laboratories for provision of various services to exporters and start-ups, forging stronger industry-academia linkages, expanding international outreach through facilitining partnership of local institutions with international partnering , and elevating workforce skills.

Expressing his views on this occasion, Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed termed the partnership between HEC and EDF a heartening development. He shed light on HEC’s efforts for promotion of impact-based research initiatives while especially referring to Research for Innovation Portal (RFI), Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORICs), and Business Incubation Centres (BICs). He maintained that HEC is heading towards a major shift from producing a high number of research publications to a heightened impact of research. He also highlighted HEC’s collaborative endeavours with different Government entities in this regard.

The Chairman appreciated the Government’s commitment to supporting joint efforts of national institutions for the national development. Concerted joint efforts will certainly yield more positive results than the outcomes the country’s institutions are producing while working in silos, he affirmed.

Secretary Ministry of Commerce Mr. Paul underlined the MoU as part of the Government’s targets to double the country’s exports in the next five years. Highlighting various measures of the Government to achieve this end, he said Pakistani companies are competing globally, however, the Government aims to expand and enhance the capacity of firms. He appreciated HEC’s programmes and initiatives directed towards promotion of research and innovation in the higher education institutions. He hoped that the collaboration between HEC and EDF will play its due part in the outcomes of Government’s efforts to enhance the country’s exports.

In his welcome remarks earlier Engr. Dr. Mazhar Saeed, Executive Director HEC shed light on the background of the bilateral collaboration. He underscored that HEC is working together with different institutions on various fronts to strengthen research & innovation in the country. He added that the HEC-EDF partnership is part of the same series. This forward-thinking agreement sets a collaborative roadmap aimed at propelling Pakistan’s export sector to new heights through innovative research and strategic initiatives, he noted.

This strategic alliance underscores a shared commitment to leveraging academic excellence and targeted development funds to significantly elevate Pakistan’s position in the global export landscape.