Five-year gap: COMSTECH General Assembly to be held on 31st

Syria and Yemen are excluded from 57 member states

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan is all set to hold 15th session of the COMSTECH General Assembly of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states at the end of this month after a gap of five years.

Meanwhile, Syria will not attend the session, which is scheduled to start from May 31 and last till June 1 this year in Islamabad.

COMSTECH General Assembly comprises science and technology ministers from 57 member states which meets after every two years and approves COMSTECH programme and budget.

The president of Pakistan is the current chairman of the organisation, whose headquarters is based in Islamabad.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Advisor of the OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH), Dr Qasim Jan said that the General Assembly’s last session was held in 2011, adding that there were various factors behind the delay in holding the next session.

Earlier, he said, the issue of appointing the Coordinator-General for COMSTECH had caused delays. Later the government postponed it for various reasons.

When asked about excluding Syria and Yemen from the meeting, he said: “I cannot comment on this. We receive a list of participants from the OIC headquarters.”

Sharing details of the COMSTECH General Assembly’s 15th session, he said: “A 10-year future plan of action worth billions of dollars aimed at promoting science and technology in Muslim countries will be discussed, seeking endorsement from all members.”

“Around 125 experts from various Muslim countries have formulated this plan while considering the overall situation of science and technology in the region and the way forward,” he said.

“Once approved, the plan of action will be tabled before the 14th Islamic Summit Conference of the OIC, which will be held in Kazakhstan in 2017,” said Dr Jan.

Earlier, the focal person for the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mohammad Khalid Siddiqui, said the list of participants would be finalised by May 25.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2016.