The Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (Comsats) of Pakistan having 21-member states in three continents offered partnership to 43 Muslim countries participating in the ongoing 5th Islamic Conference of Ministers of Higher Education and Scientific Research (ICMHESR) started in Malaysia from October 19 to 21, said a press release received here on Wednesday.
The offer was made by the Executive Director of Comsats of Pakistan, Dr Imtinan Elahi Qureshi while addressing the third working session of ICMHESR in Kuala Lumpur. Dr Imtinan stressed the Higher Education Ministers' and other participants of ICMHESR to consider joining Comsats to enable their scientists to take benefits of Comsats's programmes in areas such as environmental science, renewable energy, water and research, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), bio-technology and material sciences.
He said that the Commission activities are focused on the development of science and technology capacity in members' states by encouraging south-south co-operation along with North-South co-operation. Dr Imtinan said that a network of 16 Centers of Excellence in developing countries is affiliated with Comsats. These centers being prestigious Science and Technology (S&T) organisations in their own countries are participating in technology-transfer and knowledge sharing programmes.
He said the ICMHESR participants can also benefit from Comsats's two flagship projects; Comsats Institute of Information Technology, which offers 48 degree programmes and Internet Services of Comsats which offers value-added solutions in, domain and hosting, web development, networking training and data centers. He added that experience gained in these projects is available for the common members of Comsats and OIC.
The theme of three-day ICMHESR is, "Enculturation of Quality in Academia, Research and Innovation Towards Prosperity of Ummah". As per agenda, the participants among other matters are discussing reports on "Network of Women Scientists in OIC Member States", "Recent Trends in Emerging Technologies and current commitments of Islamic countries", "Ranking of the Universities of the Islamic world and revised version of the documents on Procedures for the Ranking of Universities in Islamic Countries", "Strategy for Promotion of nano-technology in the Islamic countries", "Atlas of the Islamic World Innovation "and various related matters.-PR