COMSTECH members need to enhance scientific cooperation

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday underscored the need for enhancing educational and scientific cooperation among COMSTECH members to overcome the challenges being faced by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries in different sectors.

He said that there existed an abundance of open-source knowledge that needed to be fully utilized by the Muslim countries to their benefit.

The president expressed these views while talking to a delegation of the Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) Scientific Advisory Council (SAC), led by the Coordinator General of COMSTECH, Prof Dr M. Iqbal Choudhary, that called on him, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release.

The president said that the world was undergoing rapid changes due to advancements in the field of science and technology and Islamic countries were required to strengthen their capacities and make faster decisions to keep pace with the fast-changing world.

He said the availability and democratization of knowledge had brought greater opportunities that should be fully capitalized upon by the Muslim countries.

The president also underlined the need of taking benefit from emerging technologies, like Artificial Intelligence, as well as find out-of-box solutions to the problems being confronted by Muslim countries in the fields of education, science and technology. He said the scientific advisory mechanisms of COMSTECH would also help fulfill the national needs of OIC member countries.

The delegation apprised the president about the initiatives undertaken by COMSTECH to strengthen cooperation in the fields of science and technology among OIC member states.

The participants highlighted the challenges and opportunities in higher education, science, technology and innovation (STI) and also gave various suggestions to further boost cooperation among Muslim countries.

The president appreciated the ideas presented by the participants as well as the contributions made by COMSTECH towards the promotion of educational and scientific cooperation among member countries.