India and Japan sign MoU for the expansion of biotech lab

India and Japan has signed an MoU for expansion of an international laboratory set up for a collaborative research in
the area of biotechnology.

According to a press release, the pact signed on a day Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in India on
a two-day visit, envisages the expansion of the laboratory set up by India's Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and
Japan's National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology under the name of DAILAB.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is likely to be exchanged after the delegation-level talks between Abe and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

DAILAB is located in Japan. The new centre to come up after the pact will be called DAICENTER.It will seek to enhance the level of joint research, training and networking programmes that had been underway
through DAILAB and its six ancillary institutes called Satellite International Institutes for Special Training, Education
and Research (SISTERS) for the past three years.

It would also focus on connecting the academia to the industry and network innovation to entrepreneurship promoting
science and technology relationships of the two countries.

Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Secretary, K Vijayaraghavan, expressed hope that the expansion of the joint
laboratory would help in pooling the resources of the two countries towards meeting the growing needs.