Islamabad, 24 March 2022 (TDI): The Steering Committee for the Implementation of the OIC Science, Technology, and Innovation Agenda 2026 held a day-long meeting at the COMSTECH Secretariat in Islamabad as the OIC Summit concludes. The meeting’s objective was to assess progress and develop different scientific and technology-related initiatives for member states.
All of the OIC’s main institutions and specialized organizations that focus on diverse fields of science, technology, and innovation, as well as their applications to society, attended the meeting, which was organized and chaired by COMSTECH.
The OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (hosted by Pakistan), and the leaders and representatives of twelve OIC organizations attended in person, with two more participating online.
Areas of collaboration:
The Committee approved an expanded Plan of Action based on collaborative initiatives involving various member organizations and partners in higher education and research, health, medicine, vaccine development, food security and water resources, emerging technologies, promoting innovation, and organizing science competitions. The decision to focus heavily on the less developed African nations and implement programs to develop their personnel and relevant technology was a major point of discussion at the summit. The discussion reaffirmed the need to not just support initiatives that harness science and technology for development but also of developing programs that inculcate in our youth a spirit of inquiry and creativity.
Review of the Committee’s activity by General Coordinator, COMSTECH:
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, COMSTECH’s General Coordinator, welcomed the attendees and reviewed the Committee’s activity over the last several years and its future goals. He also showed the Committee prototypes from the current COMSTECH program to provide STI reports for each OIC member state. SESRIC’s representative also delivered a thorough statistical report on the overall evolution of STI in member states, based on examining several typical parameters.
Assessment of member states’ progress in STI:
It was decided to form expert committees to assess member nations’ progress in STI during the last few years and to develop guidelines for future efforts.
Remarks by Assistant Secretary-General of OIC:
Ambassador Askar Mussinov, Assistant Secretary-General (S&T) of the OIC, addressed the meeting, outlining the needs of African member states as well as the OIC’s expectation that the Steering Committee will play a leading role in steering Member States toward meaningful activities to achieve the goals of the OIC STI Agenda 2026 and the Abu Dhabi Declaration, which were the outcomes of the first and second OIC S&T Summits, respectively.
The conference ended with a decision to launch different cooperation initiatives as outlined in the agreed Action Matrix and start the review process of the science and technology agenda’s execution during the previous five years based on the COMSTECH and SESRIC reports.
