STAFF REPORT ISB: The Council of European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) has unanimously approved the application of Pakistan for the associate membership.Now the only practical step in associate membership remaining is signing of official document, which will be done during the visit of Director General CERN to Pakistan, expected in the last quarter of this year. The application from Pakistan for the associate membership was submitted one and half years back in February 2013.
Located on the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland, CERN conducts some of the most complex scientific experiments of all-time in a bid to understand the structure of the universe. The CERN is the topmost particle physics laboratory in the world and the Large Hadron Collider, its brainchild, is the largest and highest energy particle accelerator, credited with the discovery of the Higgs Boson.
The CERN members include 21 countries mostly from Europe. The CERN has three associate members and five observer states.
The associate membership will open the doors of mega science experiments for Pakistani scientists and will also allow Pakistani industry to participate in bids for CERN contracts across various sectors. As CERN is known to outsource its demand for mechanical and electronic equipment, Pakistani companies will be able to cater to the organisations demands individually by picking up tenders advertised by CERN, which will help the industry and economy.