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Professor Ihsanoglu: Advancement in Science and Technology is essential for Political Empowerment of Muslim Countries and Revitalizing Islam's Civilizational Pioneering Role
The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu emphasized the need for advancement in science and technology which is essential not only for the achievement of the OIC Member States' socio-economic development targets but also for their political empowerment and revitalizing Islam's civilizational pioneering role in the world. He said that the adoption of the new OIC Charter has enabled us to continue our mission with greater vigour and bring about structural modifications in order to re-position the OIC to address the emerging challenges in areas such as poverty alleviation, health, environment, disaster relief and management, socio-cultural issues, higher education, science, technology and innovation. Ihsanoglu said this in his speech at the opening ceremony of the 14th Session of the General Assembly of OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) on 11 January 2011 at Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Secretary General expressed his confidence that COMSTECH will be able to focus more closely on strategic planning, policy-making and coordination matters noting that as a result of the Member States' concerted efforts, the OIC General Secretariat and OIC institutions in the last five years have moved closer to the targets set by the OIC Vision 1441H for Science and Technology and OIC Ten Year Programme of Action (TYPOA). In this context, Ihsanoglu announced that the average spending of the Member States on Research and Development (R&D) has doubled to 0.41% of the GDP on R&D from an average expenditure of 0.2% in 2005, whereas the target set by the TYPOA is to reach 1%. The Secretary General, who called upon the Member States to renew their commitment to advancement of Science and Technology, declared that the number of scientific publications in the Member States has increased to 63,342 in 2009 from just 18,391 publications in 2000, in addition to the increase of number of researchers, scientists and engineers engaged in R&D which has risen to 649 per million, i.e., about one-fourth of the world average compared to 250 per million in 2003. The Secretary General urged the 14th General Assembly of COMSTECH to analytically examine the recommendations of the Mid-Term Review in the domains of science and technology, higher education, health and environment and to agree on concrete measures for the implementation of those recommendations as they will provide invaluable input for the 12th Islamic Summit Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in March 2011. --More
