Coordinator General COMSTECH, Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary briefed media persons on Tuesday at COMSTECH Secretariat.
Coordinator General COMSTECH, Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary briefed media persons on Tuesday at COMSTECH Secretariat.
Prof. Choudhary gave a comprehensive briefing to the media persons on the milestones achieved by COMSTECH during the last two years. He informed the media on the flagship programmes of COMSTECH research grants programme with International Foundation for Science, Sweden, The World Academy of Sciences, Italy, and International Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Italy.
Prof. Choudhary said that COMSTECH has established Consortium of Excellence comprising upon key academic, science, technology and engineering research institutions of OIC member states. He said that the objective of this consortium is to build capacity in key areas of S&T, build linkages, provide enabling environment to increase investment, and trade through technology-based projects and build an ecosystem of collaboration and enable knowledge-based economic growth in OIC region.
He said that during the last two years COMSTECH has started fellowship programme in collaboration with the World Academy of Sciences for scientists in exile, fellowship programme in virology and vaccine technologies, scholarships for Palestine nationals, and fellowships for Yemen. This is by far the largest fellowship program in OIC for capacity building in science and technology.
Prof. Choudhary said that COMSTECH has started compiling science, technology and innovation profiles of OIC member states. He said that COMSTECH has launched OIC technology and innovation portal to provide a digital platform to innovators and scientists of Muslim countries to showcase their innovative products.
Prof. Choudhary said that COMSTECH has started Africa Programme in health sciences and technology innovation. He said under this programme COMSTECH in collaboration with LRBT has conducted eye camps in Gambia and Niger and performed more than 500 cataract surgeries and fixed the out of order medical equipment, along with holding training workshops to train eye surgeons. Similar programs now planned for Chad, Uganda, Benin, and Nigeria.
Prof. Choudhary mentioned that COMSTECH is working in collaboration with the ministry of science and technology, Pakistan for the capacity building of research and development organizations of MoST and facilitating towards indigenous human vaccine production.