Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Dr Imtinan Elahi Qureshi, executive director of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS), said on Tuesday that development-focused cooperation in science and technology was gaining momentum through COMSATS-facilitated collaboration between 20 research and development organisations of different countries of the world.

Dr Qureshi told the audience that COMSATS was mandated by the international community in 1994 to accelerate South-South cooperation, a term historically used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the global South.

Giving details of the upcoming 19th meeting of COMSATS Coordinating Council, he said the council had a central role in making COMSATS international programmes successful. The council consists of heads of 20 research and development institutions from different countries. These institutions are affiliated with COMSATS as its Network of S&T Centres of Excellence.

“COMSATS has actively facilitated science and technology cooperation and collaboration between the countries of the developing world since 1994 and is supporting cooperation between the North and the South as well, which means developing world cooperation with the advanced countries,” says Dr Qureshi.

Noting that the earlier meetings of the council helped the organisation in developing meaningful mechanisms for scientific exchanges and international cooperation, he expressed the hope that the upcoming council meeting would strengthen scientific linkages among the member states.

He referred to the programme of the International Thematic Research Groups (ITRGs) that was considered cornerstone of COMSATS strategy for realising South-South cooperation and addressing issues of national and global concern. The five operational ITRGs are in the areas of information and communication technologies, agriculture, food security and biotechnology, natural products sciences, climate change and environmental protection and mathematical modelling.