Daily Times

Three-day `Pakistan-Turkey-Kazakhstan Youth Forum on Biotechnology’ will be arranged in the month of September with emphasis on increasing the share of Muslim countries in the biotechnology global market.

The forum, to be held from September 13-15, is being sponsored by COMSTECH-the OIC Standing Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation, Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) and Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF), an official of COMSTECH told APP. The academics, students and researchers from the OIC countries are likely to participate in the forum.

The global biotechnology market is anticipated to reach a market value of US$ 775 billion by 2024 with an annual growth rate of 7.7%.

Increased spending on biotechnology research and development, favourable initiatives by governments, global food security and the increasing need for emerging technologies are some of the factors influencing this growth.

Unfortunately, the share of Muslim countries in this global market of biotechnology is very small and needs to be increased. This proposed tripartite youth forum (Pakistan-Turkey-Kazakhstan) will help promote excellence and competence in the field of agricultural biotechnology among Muslim countries. The theme of the forum “Agriculture Biotechnology” aims at providing the best knowledge and resources to young participants to advance their research goals, the official informed.