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OIC body, HEC arrange science workshop
Islamabad, July 01, 2008: Organisation of the Islamic Conference Standing Committee on
Scientific and Technological Cooperation COMSTECH, in collaboration with Higher
Education Commission of Pakistan arranged two workshops for participants from
the OIC member states.
A joint inaugural session of the workshop was held
here on Monday. The session was presided over by Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, COMSTECH
Coordinator General and Chairman Higher Education Commission of
Pakistan.
Addressing the multi-cultural gathering, Dr Atta-ur-Rahman,
stressed the need for strong intellectual property regime for progress in the
technology and termed private sector research and development projects crucial
for real advancement on the technology front. He apprised the scientific
community of importance of foresight in the technology and disclosed that only
one country, Turkey, among the Muslim nations has done technology foresight
exercises, which have resulted in revolutionary changes for Turkish development
sectors.
He said Pakistan needs such exercises to cope up with future changes
in science and technology trends.
Atta-ur-Rahman opined that political will
is must for creating a suitable environment for the application of science and
technology towards development.
He advocated for increase in R&D
spending. "We need to develop our own science and technology infrastructure as
lack of ingenious capabilities causes wastage of resources", he added. While
speaking on the importance of technology foresight Dr STK Naim COMSTECH
Consultant said' "Foresight is an activity used for longer term planning and a
systematic means of assessing scientific and technological developments which
could have strong impact on industrial competitiveness, wealth creation and
quality of life".
Speaking on the theme of another workshop arranged
simultaneously on "Climate Change: Adaptation Challenges in OIC Courtiers", Dr
Atta-ur-Rahman said, "Climate change is huge looming disaster. We need to
realise the potential threats this may bring along.
The threat is real and is
already happening across our urban centres, coastlines, deltas and valleys, from
Morocco and Egypt to Nigeria and Sudan to Pakistan and Indonesia.This challenge
confronting the contemporary world calls for immediate reflection and
action.
If global carbon levels continue to increase, the earth's climate
will become unmanageable and intolerable, with frequent natural disasters, loss
of lives and livelihoods, and conflicts over depleting resources that might
erupt out of control".
Dr Anwar Nasim, COMSTECH Advisor Science gave a
detailed introduction on the climate change workshop and said it will contribute
towards proper planning to tackle the issue across OIC region.
The workshops will continue for about two weeks and are being attended by policy-makers, public and private sector professionals, activists and researchers from OIC member states. The courses and training are being administered by renowned national and international faculty. Researchers and policy-makers from Indonesia , Algeria , Oman , Yemen , Morocco , Bangladesh , Nigeria and Pakistan were present during the inaugural ceremony.
Report BY: Ameen Amjad, Public Relations Manager, COMSTECH Secretariat / The Nation
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