COMSATS' 10th Coordinating Council Meeting, Cairo - Egypt

The 10th Coordinating Council Meeting of COMSATS was held in Cairo from 18-19 June 2007. The Meeting was attended by the Heads of the Centers of Excellence of the member states. Coordinating Council is the highest policy and strategy making body of the network of Centers of Excellence. The Meeting deliberated upon eleven point agenda which comprised inter alia, technical programs, policies and strategies, follow-up actions of the previously agreed decisions, network activities, administrative and financial matters. Prof. M.H.A. Hassan, Secretary General, TWNSO chaired the Meeting.

The Meeting followed a highly interactive approach in making decisions which were overwhelmingly consensus based. A forward looking stance enabled the Meeting to agree upon a new regional pattern of programs based on the most pressing identified priorities of the member states. Thematic areas like ICT, Agriculture and Biotechnology, Natural Products, Climate Change, Materials Sciences , Mathematical Modeling and Capacity Building through scholarships, training programs, workshops, etc., were decided to be taken up during the coming years. Clusters of interested member states were created to implement the technical projects under the identified areas.

Another significant development was the realization of the idea that fresh policies and strategies need to be evolved in order to tackle the new challenges of the twenty first century, to be faced by the developing countries of COMSATS in moving forward on the road to sustainable socio-economic development through the application of science and technology. The discussion, triggered by the elucidating presentation by the Executive Director COMSATS, and participated by all the members of the Council, welcomed the ideas and contents of the presentation. The Meeting gave the mandate to the Secretariat to prepare a comprehensive strategy document covering the period 2008-2012. The purpose of this new strategy will be to increase the active participation of the Centers of Excellence in the overall comprehensive program of COMSATS and to enhance its technical strength in a cost-effective manner. Other important issues included the increase in the financial strength of COMSATS, South – South and North-South collaboration, synergies in technical programs, enhancement of COMSATS’ membership, etc. were also discussed in detail. IRCC-Sudan was admitted as Associate Member and the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan was given the right of membership in replacement of ICC as requested by Jordan. The Meeting also approved certain other administrative and financial matters as put before it by the Secretariat.

The Coordinating Council greatly appreciated the work carried out by the Secretariat as given in various reports and document of COMSATS Secretariat. It expressed its confidence that the same standard of performance will be maintained by COMSATS in the future years when new programs are taken up and when the ongoing programs are carried out for their successful completion. In the end the Meeting thanked the hosts, i.e. The National Research Center, Cairo and Government of Egypt for excellent meeting arrangements and generous hospitality. The next Council meeting is expected to take place either in Beijing (China) or in Nigeria.