Call for science and technology mainstream to alleviate poverty

PM's Advisor Dr Ashfaq Ahmed on Monday called for need for the mainstream of science and technology to achieve goals of benefiting the masses and alleviating poverty.
Addressing the concluding session of a two-day seventh Meeting of Comsats Co-ordinating Council here, he said there must be a conscious effort to convert the knowledge produced at the centres of excellence into a form that can be used for entrepreneurial activity and commercial purposes.
Dr Ashfaq said there is an urgent need for close co-operation between organisations working for the same objectives as Comstech and Comsats which are working enthusiastically for the capacity building of their member states.
Expressing his concern about the lack of funding by Comsats member states, he urged them to contribute for the larger interest of the member nations.
He expressed the hope that similar regular meetings of the Comsats Co-ordinating Council will continue to be held, and decisions taken be practically implemented so that the mission of Comsats to address problems of member countries could he fulfilled.
Comsats Executive Director Dr Hameed A. Khan, in his address, briefly touched upon various programmes and activities of Comsats.
He said Comsats was planning to add new centres of excellence to its fold, and has the requisite support of its existing members and Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).
One of the major actions taken during the meeting was of accepting the proposal of inclusion of Iranian Research Organisation for Science and Technology (Irost), he informed.
Deliberating the issue of strengthening of Comsats Network of Centres of Excellence, he said the World Bank has accepted Comsats proposal to provide its member countries with soft-loans.
He said the discussions of the Co-ordinating Council meeting also resulted in a number of recommendations and guidelines for an even better co-ordination and working of Centres of Excellence and Comsats headquarters.
TWAB Executive Director Professor M.H.A. Hassan, in his address, commended the achievements made by Pakistan in the field of science and technology.
The meeting attended by the representatives of Egypt, China, Jordan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Turkey and Pakistan concluded with fruitful discussions and deliberations.
Some of the key decisions and resolutions coming out of this meeting included re-utilising the services of former members of Technical Advisory Committee, inclusion of diplomatic representation in the Management Committee, frequent financial contributions towards S&T development programmes and improving the communication channels of the network. The next co-ordinating council meeting will be held in Egypt in 2005.