SESRIC has participated in the Mid-Term Review Meeting of the Ten-Year Programme of Action to Meet the Challenges Facing Ummah in the 21st Century (TYPOA) and Vision 1441H for Science and Technology. The meeting was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during the period 4-6 December 2010. Senior officials of 15 OIC Member States and concerned OIC Institutions, namely OIC General Secretariat, OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH), Statistical Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Islamic University of Uganda and Islamic University of Niger participated in the meeting. SESRIC was represented thereat by Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General, and Mr. Mehmet Fatih Serenli, Director of Training and Technical Cooperation Department.

The Meeting aimed to review the progress achieved since the adoption of the TYPOA in Makkah al-Mukarramah in 2005 and the Vision 1441H in Kuala Lumpur in 2003; discuss problems, bottlenecks and future direction for the implementation of TYPOA and 1441H; identify the issues of S&T systems of Member Countries have braved individually and collectively, devise mechanisms and propose tools in the light of these findings to overcome the bottlenecks and ensure smooth process to implement viable initiatives during the remaining half of the programme period.

During the meeting, the delegations introduced their reports and presented short summaries of the progress made so far by their governments/institutions with respect to the implementation of TYPAO related to science and technology development and 1441H. They also informed the Meeting on the shortfalls and bottlenecks experienced by them and the structural reforms required to overcome the problems. The country delegations also discussed the integration of science policy into social development and identify factors responsible for success or failure of the implementation during the remaining five years of TYPOA and the remaining 10 years of the Vision 1441H.

The Meeting also revealed the actions and measures taken by the Member States and concerned OIC Institutions to develop cooperation with other Member States and Institutions to push forward the TYPOA and 1441H to its successful conclusion by the year 2015/2020. The Meeting recommended measures and initiatives to speed up cooperation amongst the Member States and OIC Institutions, and indicated expectations from OIC system as a whole for an integrated approach in the coming years for consideration by the 14th General Assembly of COMSTECH and then for consideration by the 12th Islamic Summit Conference to be held in March 2011 in Egypt.

Relevant documents

Ten-Year Programme of Action to Meet the Challenges Facing Ummah in the 21th Century

Vision 1441H: Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Science and Technology for Socio-Economic Well-Being of the Ummah

Research and Scientific Development in OIC Countries (English)

Education and Scientific Development in OIC Member Countries (English) (Arabic) (French)

Presentations

Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Islamic World, Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC

Photo