The projects have been passed to boost science and technology in the Muslim world. This was announced at the 27th meeting of the OIC Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation (Comstech) in Riyadh.

The Comstech meeting called on OIC states to increase their support for scientific and technological development. It also called on science and technology organizations from OIC states, including Saudi Arabia, to fund the agencies of the member states, and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and ISESCO to support science and technology programs and projects in the OIC countries.

The event was attended by a number of high-ranking OIC officials, ministers and deputy ministers from OIC countries. Prominent among them were OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Pakistani Federal Minister for Science and Technology Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Sudanese Minister of Science and Technology Ibrahim Ahmed Omer, President of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, and Comstech’s Coordinator General Atta-ur-Rahman.

“The acquisition of knowledge and research has been the basic features of Muslim societies since the advent of Islam and you will agree with me that with the weakening of these glorious traditions, the gap in scientific and technological pursuits in OIC member states and advanced countries has widened with every passing day,” said Ihsanoglu. He added that several projects — including the “Science & Technology Park” and the “Cyber University” — have been accepted by member states including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan. The proposal to set up the technology park was made by Iran, and approved by all member states. The new projects will boost science and technology research in OIC countries.

“The Muslim world, comprising 57 independent countries, stretching from Indonesia to Morocco, has a population of over 1.4 billion, about 25 percent of world’s population, but the total proportion of science and technical manpower of the Muslim world represents only 3.7 percent,” said a report released on the occasion.

“Even more serious is the fact that the research and development manpower of Muslim countries is only 1.1 percent … revealing the fact that most of the Islamic countries have a weak research and development base that needs considerable strengthening for research and development to become the basis of indigenous development,” it added.

Referring to the Comstech meeting, the OIC chief said that the current session is of special significance this year. “We are almost halfway through since the adoption of a 10-year program of action and in our deliberations today we took stock of our achievements and failures over these years,” he said.

“While we are conscious of our limited financial and human resources, we must not forget that in order to become a community that values knowledge and encourages a culture of science, technology and innovation, joint and concerted efforts will be required,” he added.

On the research front, Comstech has gone the extra mile by executing and launching several projects, but it still has a lot to achieve. Comstech has connected the journal holdings of 45 major libraries spread across its 15 member states, making available a list of 28,000 research journals online. The libraries have been connected through a networking program. At present, the journal holdings of 45 libraries from 15 member-states of Comstech have been listed. They include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria and Turkey.