Pakistan, Aug. 23 -- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday approved a new master plan for the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), aimed at restructuring the institution and aligning its research infrastructure with international standards.

While approving reforms at NARC, the prime minister directed that they be completed at the earliest and said that NARC and the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council should be made more active and aligned with international standards.

The meeting was briefed that NARC is being divided into seven districts to align it with international requirements.

Under the new master plan, facilities such as five Centres of Excellence, reference laboratories, bio-repositories, new research centres incl...