In May 2005 the Pakistan Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock requested the Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad for technical and financial assistance in the fisheries sector.
As a follow-up on this request a team of Norwegian fisheries experts travelled to Pakistan in a fact-finding mission with the purpose to explore the possibilities for development cooperation Norway/Pakistan in the fisheries sector. The mission identified three main areas of cooperation between the two countries:
- Fish resources assessments
- Fish quality improvement
- Training and competence building
In accordance with these findings, two interlinked project documents “Competence strengthening in fisheries institutions of Pakistan” and “Assistance in planning and implementing a marine fisheries resources survey” were developed by CDCF and the Pakistani counter-partners. The agreements between Marine Fisheries Department and CDCF were signed in Karachi in March 2007.
Due to large difficulties with renting a suitable research vessel, no progress has been made in the implementing of the marine fisheries resources survey. In the second project the first activity has been carried out, as a report describing the structure and obstacles of the Pakistani fisheries institutions was written in connection of a one-moth mission of two Norwegian experts in Pakistan, June 2007.
Signing of the contracts by the Director of the Marine Fisheries Department, Commodor Syed Qamar Raza, and the CDCF represented by Erling Bakken.
