COMSTECH IN BRIEF.

COMSTECH the Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) was established by the Third Islamic Summit of OIC held at Makkah, Saudi Arabia in January 1981. COMSTECH is composed of all the member states of OIC represented by their ministers of science and technology and chaired by the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is Co-Chairman of COMSTECH. The structure of the COMSTECH consists upon General Assembly, Executive Committee; General Secretariat and COMSTECH Secretariat. The COMSTECH Secretariat functions under the supervision and control of the Coordinator General who is its Chief Executive. The core mandate of COMSTECH is to strengthen cooperation among OIC member states in science and technology (S&T), and enhance their capabilities through training in emerging areas, undertake follow-up-actions and implementation of the resolutions of the OIC, and to draw up programs and submit proposals designed to increase the capability of the Muslim countries in science and technology (S&T).

The ultimate aim is to build and nourish a scientific culture in addition to using S&T as a major contributor to socio-economic development and rapid industrialization.

COORDINATOR GENERAL COMSTECH

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary is Coordinator General of COMSTECH. He is a world renowned medicinal chemist. He has published 1,175 research papers in the fields of organic and bioorganic chemistry in international journals, 76 books and 40 chapters in books published by major US and European press. He has secured 40 US patents so far. Dr. Choudhary's work has been cited by the researchers from around the world by 27,407 times and his h-index is 70. By now 94 national and international scholars have completed their PhD degrees under his supervision. Dr. Choudhary is D.Sc., Ph.D., and C. Chem. He has been awarded by different governments of Pakistan with Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz. He is a fellow of world renowned science academies: Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, Islamic World academy of Sciences, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of Chemistry, and Chemical Society of Pakistan.

Prof. Choudhary started a number of programmes for the capacity building and socio-economic development of OIC member states. A brief account of these programmes is given below

COMSTECH PROGRAMMES COMSTECH-IFS RESEARCH GRANTS PROGRAMME

COMSTECH and International Foundation for Science (IFS), Stockholm, started joint programme in 1998. The purpose of the collaboration is to enhance research capability in the OIC region. This Program has so far financed 358 research projects amounting to US$ 3.898 million in 32 OIC member states: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote D'ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somali, Sudan, Suriname, Togo, Tunisia and Uganda.

COMSTECH-ICGEB SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION PROGRAMME

COMSTECH signed a memorandum of understanding with ICGEB to establish a general framework for cooperation in science, education, and technology. COMSTECH-ICGEB programme, launched in January 2022, is offering research grants, fellowships and visiting professorship scheme to organize workshops in emerging technologies for capacity building of OIC states in various aspects of biotechnology and genetic engineering. International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) is based in Trieste, (Italy), Durban (South Africa), and New Delhi (India). COMSTECH is an OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation based in Islamabad, Pakistan.

COMSTECH-TWAS SCIENCE IN EXILE...