OIC S&T Steering Committee meeting held

Islamabad : Dr. Tariq Banuri, the acting coordinator general of Comstech and the Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) urged the representatives of the science and technology organs of the OIC to make enhanced efforts to achieve the agreed goals of the 1st OIC Summit on Science and Technology at Astana in 2017, says a press release.

He was speaking at the opening session of the 1st meeting of the Steering Committee for the Implementation of the 10 year S&T plan approved at the Astana Summit, known as the STI Agenda 2026.

The meeting organised by Comstech, which is the OIC Standing Committee for Science and Technology, is being held on March 18-19 and is being attended by the heads and representatives of the nine science and technology organs of the OIC. The Steering Committee is seized with the responsibility of finalising the cooperative programs and activities in a wide range of areas including education, health, food security, energy and big science programmes.

Comstech, which has its Secretariat hosted by Pakistan, has played the leading role in developing the Ten Year Plan whose main thrust is on developing synergy between the efforts of the various S&T organs of the OIC, as well as between the member states. The meeting resolved to harness the collective creativity and expertise of member states to speed up economic and technological development.

The organs of the OIC represented at this meeting are the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB),Saudi Arabia; Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC), Turkey; Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Morocco; Statistical, Economic, Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), Turkey; Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS), Jordan; OIC Computer Emergency Response Team (OIC-CERT), Malaysia; Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC), Turkey; Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF), Turkey. Besides the seven organs of the OIC that focus on specific areas of S&T, the meeting is also being attended by Ambassador Naeem Khan, Assistant Secretary General of OIC and Dr. Hayat Sulaiman H. Sindi the Senior Advisor to the President for Science, Technology and Innovation at the Islamic Development Bank.