The Sudanese Federal Minister of Science and Communication, Dr Tahani Abdalla Attia, accompanied by a delegation from the Republic visited the CSIR on Monday 16 March 2015.
This followed an initial bilateral meeting in Khartoum, Sudan on 7 November 2014 between Minister Attia and the South African Minister of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Mrs Naledi Pandor where a bilateral agreement on science and technology was signed.
Before visiting the CSIR, the Sudanese delegation first met with Minister Pandor at DST to accelerate the implementation of the agreement. With the agreement now signed it is expected that this visit will lead to a plan of action jointly funded by both countries.
The DST has put aside R2 million specifically for this collaboration which the Sudanese minister will match through a common fund pool. Researchers from both countries will have to bid to access the funds through a call for proposals which will be administered by the NRF.
The CSIR CEO, Dr Sibusiso Sibisi welcomed the delegation. Dr Rachel Chikwamba the Group Executive for Strategic Alliances and Communication, presented an overview of the CSIR.
Minister Naledi Pandor explained that South Africa has a long standing relationship with the Republic of Sudan. She said that science collaboration started in the early 2000s and the DST has been working on renewing the collaboration for a while.
“The focal areas will be space science, but we are also hoping to extend it to other areas such as astronomy sciences, agriculture and animal resources, biotechnology and advanced value addition in mineral processing. Sudan has recently established a space agency and is keen on earth observation capacity, data gathering using satellite imagery from South Africa generated through Sudan based technologies. Finally, we are looking at human capital development to support the knowledge economy, and being women ministers we want to see more women in science. We are cementing our relationship through science and technology,” said Minister Pandor.
Hina Patel, the CSIR Executive Director for Meraka delivered a presentation on Information and Communication Technology followed by Daniel Visser CSIR Business Development Manager from Biosciences who presented on Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. Kaven Naidoo, CSIR competency area manager took the delegation through a presentation in Aeronautic Systems. The delegation then paid a visit to the wind tunnel where they were exposed to the different capabilities of the facility.
“It was an informative session especially considering it was at such short notice. I was impressed by the high professional level of presentations. Now we have direction in terms of an action plan of turning the agreement into actionable items. I am grateful for the time everyone dedicated to planning and executing this day” concluded Minister Attia at the end of the sessions.
Both Minister Pandor and Dr Sibisi expressed keen interest to form a close working relationship with the Sudanese government and are looking forward to further engagement.
Photo: Professor Abdelgani , Minister Pandor, Minister Attia and Dr Sibisi are looking forward to implementing the bilateral agreement in science and technology.
Click here to see pictures of the day.
By Anna Semenya
