IOFS participates at the 5th Meeting of Steering Committee for OIC STI Agenda 2026 in Pakistan

IOFS participates at the 5th Meeting of Steering Committee for OIC STI Agenda 2026 in Pakistan
24 March 2022
His Excellency Mr. Yerlan A. Baidaulet, the Director General of the Islamic Organization of Food Security (IOFS), led the Organization’s delegation to participate at the 5th Meeting of Steering Committee for OIC STI Agenda 2026 under chairmanship of COMSTECH, the Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) held on 24 March 2022 in Islamabad, Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

 
The Steering Committee gathered to follow-up on matters discussed at the similar earlier meetings, including the latest held online on 05 January 2022. The various agenda items that formed the deliberations of meeting were meant to identify opportunities for joint initiatives, define mechanisms of joint efforts, and steer the efforts of member Institutions towards the goals identified in the 2nd OIC STI Summit in July 2021. The meeting also deliberated on the issues relating to the assessment of progress made by Member States in implementing the STI Agenda 2026.

Finally, the meeting considered what initiatives were to be conceived and recommended for the advancement of science and technology in African Member States, which, coincidently, were in line with celebration of 2022 as “IOFS Year of Africa”.

Under the thematic area of Food Security and Water Scarcity of the Actionable Recommendations of Abu Dhabi Declaration (ABD) IOFS was identified as a main responsible institution for more than 20 joint activities under OIC umbrella.

In this context, the IOFS Director General on different occasions took the floor to highlight the activities of the Organization under the agenda items, while liaising with relevant sister Institutions to jointly work together for the successful implementation of suggested projects that are part of the Matrix of proposed Actions based on the Abu-Dhabi Declaration on Science & Technology, as well as the OIC Plan of Action for African Member States that is based on the following five areas of action: i) Promoting Education and Skills at all levels; ii) Ensuring Health; iii) Security of Water, Food and Agriculture; iv) Women Empowerment; and v) Strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship.
 

During the  Steering Committee Meeting there were several discussions and information exchange with representatives of participating OIC Institutions, including the OIC General Secretariat, COMSTECH, COMCEC, ICESCO, Islamic Academy of Sciences (Amman), Islamic University in Uganda (Kampala), Islamic University of Technologies (Dhaka), Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (Istanbul), Islamic Development Bank (Jeddah), Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (ICCIA).