KARACHI: Federal Minister for Industries and National Food Security Rana Tanveer Hussain visited Karachi University (KU) on Monday, where he signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the establishment of a research laboratory at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS).

KUVice ChancellorProf Khalid Iraqi and Prof Ataur-Rehman, Patron-inChief of the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, ICCBS, welcomed the minister at the MoU signing ceremony, after which he received a briefing on the ongoing ICCBS research projects from its director, Prof Farzana Shaheen.

Under the agreement, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research will establish a National Reference Laboratory for the Department of Plant Protection (NRL-DPP) at the HEJ Institute within three years, subject to the timely approval of the project and funding.

The lab will serve as a national facility for quality checks of samples against pesticide residues and related testing and will meet the demand for emerging challenges in food and drug testing.

`A technical evaluation committee will be constituted initially for five years. The director ICCBS will be the sole administrative authority of NRLDPP,` an ICCBS spokesperson said.