Marking a significant milestone in Science and Technology (S&T) cooperation between India and Nepal, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, and the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) formalized a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 18th February 2025 at CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), New Delhi. The agreement, signed and exchanged by Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Director General, CSIR, and Secretary, DSIR, and Prof. Dr. Dilip Subba, Vice-Chancellor, NAST, establishes a broad framework to promote bilateral scientific and technological collaboration.
CSIR and NAST share a long history of cooperation, dating back to 1994, when an agreement between CSIR and then-RONAST (now NAST) was signed to promote joint research and technological development in areas of mutual interest. To execute the agreement, two Working Programmes were signed in 1997 and 2002, leading to the organization of several joint workshops and training programs that continued beyond the official period of these agreements.
The newly signed MoU seeks to rejuvenate and expand this collaboration, enhancing scientific engagement between the two institutions. The renewed partnership under the 2025 MoU will be implemented through various collaborative activities, including the exchange of scientific information, research materials, and scientists, the organization of joint S&T seminars, workshops, and training programs, the execution of joint research projects, access to each other’s major research facilities, technology partnerships, and the twinning of institutions for capacity development. The cooperation will focus on mutually agreed areas, including biological sciences, food science and technology, water and environmental technologies, fuel and mining sciences, metallurgy, material sciences such as glass, ceramics, biomaterials, and nanotechnology, alternative energy, leather and footwear technologies, metrology, polymer sciences, and drug discovery.
