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Scientists analysing data on a computer after an experiment at the Cern laboratory.

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A woman looks at the Large Hadron Collider at the Cern facility near Geneva, Switzerland.

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Cern

A maintenance worker inspects the Large Hadron Collider tunnel at the Cern facility.

LONDON: Pakistan on Friday beat India in the race to become an associate member of Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research), the world’s largest particle physics laboratory that recently found some evidence of " God particle ".A senior official of Cern had told TOI earlier in an exclusive interview in London that beauracratic red tape in India had slowed down the country’s intentions of joining Cern as an associate member.On Friday, Cern director general Rolf Heuer and the chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Ansar Parvez signed in Islamabad in presence of prime minister Nawaz Sharif, a document admitting Pakistan to Cern Associate Membership , subject to ratification by the government of Pakistan.“Pakistan has been a strong participant in CERN’s endeavours in science and technology since the 1990s,” said Rolf Heuer. “Bringing nations together in a peaceful quest for knowledge and education is one of the most important missions of Cern. Welcoming Pakistan as a new associate member state is therefore for our organization a very significant event.”Being an associate member will allow Pakistan to participate in the governance of Cern, through attending the meetings of the Cern council.Moreover, it will allow Pakistani scientists to become members of the Cern staff, and to participate in CERN’s training and career-development programmes.Finally, it will allow Pakistani industry to bid for Cern contracts thus opening up opportunities for industrial collaboration in areas of advanced technology.India along with Japan and Russia have observer status.“It is indeed a historic day for science in Pakistan. Today's signing of the agreement is a reward for the collaboration of our scientists, engineers and technicians with Cern over the past two decades,” said Ansar Parvez.A Cern official had told TOI earlier: “CERN is very keen that India becomes an associate member and takes up a larger role in the experiments at Cern. But the final documents which India needs to submit has been stuck for months now.”The official had told TOI two months ago that, Pakistan on the other hand has moved swiftly to put “all documents in place” and “is all set to become an associate member before India”.To be an associate member, India will have to pay $10.7 million annually. The status of associate member is also the pre-stage to full membership. As an associate member, India will be entitled to attend open and restricted sessions of the organization.Rolf Dieter Heuer had recently said that Cern had become highly popular in India. Cern receives the highest number of applications for summer internships from India. Cern discovered the Higgs boson popularly known as the "God particle".The associate membership will open the doors of mega science experiments for Indian scientists and will also allow Indian industry to participate in bids for Cern contracts across various sectors. India was given “Observer” status in Cern in 2002.Today, Cern has 21 member states and Romania is a candidate to become a member state. “Observer” status allows non-member states to attend council meetings and to receive council documents, without taking part in the decision-making procedures of the organization.High-energy physicists from India, mainly from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), have been participating in experiments at Cern since the 1970s.Subsequently, the TIFR-EHEP Group joined the L3 experiment, contributing hardware for the endcap hadron calorimeter, making major contributions to core software and participating in important physics analyses such as the line shape analysis, Higgs searches, QCD and b-quark physics.Some 10,000 visiting scientists from over 113 countries — half of the world’s particle physicists — come to Cern for their research.