(Publish from Houston Texas USA)
(Zafar Chishti)
Faislabad: Prestigious Pak-China Friendship Award 2025 has been conferred upon Prof. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad for his marvelous contributions and testament to his visionary leadership and ironclad friendship between Pakistan and China, a partnership deeply embedded at UAF. He received the award from Chinese Consul General Zhao Shiren in a ceremony held at Governor House Lahore. His academic excellence was recognized by President of Pakistan conferring upon him National level HEC-Best University Teacher Award 2020. He is the recipient of “Academic Excellence Award 2025” by the Association of Private Sector Universities of Pakistan (APSUP). His research excellence was well recognized by Pakistan Academy of Sciences awarding him Gold Medal in Biotechnology in 2017. He has been a winner of research productivity awards.
Prof Dr. Zulfiqar Ali had worked as Director Programs and Projects at OIC’s specialized entity on Food Security “Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS)” at Astana, Kazakhstan.He has earned PhD degree from UAF, post-doc from the University of Sydney, Australia and Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China. He has made significant research contributions by producing numerous Impact Factor publications. Furthermore, he has supervised 20 PhD and 100+ MS students. He has developed durum wheat variety and
Under the banner of Pak-China ties, as many as 83 of UAF faculty members have graduated Chinese universities.Moreover, over 50 UAF faculty members have also received advanced training and fellowships in China, bringing valuable skills back to Pakistan.Together with Chinese partners, the UAF have completed 14 joint research projects in areas like smart farming and bioenergy, and have established several joint laboratories. The momentum of joint research has now grown stronger; Just in 2025, UAF submitted 130 new project proposals with Chinese universities worth 1437 million PKR. Central to this success is the Confucius Institute at UAF (CI-UAF), recognized globally as a Top Model Institute that has provided Chinese language training to over 35,000 students.
He has developed the durum wheat variety Chenab pasta 24 and low-gluten wheat variety Chenab LG. He has also developed technologies including Pakistani hybrid wheat for seed replacement and yield gain; Architectured multifloret wheat plant to break yield stagnation, Architectured capturing wheat plant for water saving, Architectured multifloret rice plant to break yield stagnation and Rice seed biotech for phosphorous use efficiency and water saving.He has also served as Chairman Department Plant Breeding and Genetics, MNS University of Agriculture (MNSUA), Multan, Pioneer Director Quality Enhancement Cell, Pioneer Director/ Principal Officer Office of Research Innovation and Commercialization, MNUSA from 2015 to 2022. Under his administration, the UAF was taking revolutionary steps to take the university to the new heights.
Chinese Consul General Zhao congratulated the award recipients for their services and said their efforts had helped build trust, understanding and cooperation, adding new strength to bilateral relations. He said close cooperation with local partners had helped deepen mutual ties.
