MALAYSIA PIONEER IN ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES ON S&T FOR OIC COUNTRIES

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will become one of the pioneer and
reference countries in establishing guidelines and benchmarks for the progress
of science and technology for Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
member states.

OIC Secretary-General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said Malaysia together with
Pakistan and Egypt would establish the first guideline project for the Atlas of
Islamic World Innovation which started in 2008.

"The General Secretariat and OIC institutions along with partners from Europe
and Canada are actively collaborating for the preparation and completion of
country reports in respect of the 15 OIC member states selected for the Atlas
project."

He said this in his speech read out by OIC Assistant Secretary-General Abdul
Moiz Bokhari at the opening of the 5th Islamic Conference of Ministers of Higher
Education and Scientific Research (ICMHESR) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention
Centre (KLCC), here, Tuesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin opened the conference.

Ekmeleddin said the country reports for the three countries were expected to be
launched during the 12th OIC Summit in March 2011.

He said the development of science and technology in OIC member states was
largely dependent on the availability of scientific expertise, infrastructure,
human resource, quality of scientific curricula, and their policies and
programmes.

Therefore, in order to analyse all these factors and to examine their interplay,
he said, the project for the Atlas of Islamic World Innovation was endorsed
during the 11th OIC Summit in Dakar in 2008.

He said the Atlas project was intended to serve as an important reference and
guide on key trends and trajectories in science and tecnology-based innovation
(STI) that included recommendations for strengthening STI culture in OIC
countries.

Ekmeleddin said the fifth ICMHESR with the theme, 'Enculturation of Quality
Academia, Research and Innovation Towards Prosperity of the Ummah', showed its
commitment to transforming the Muslim world into a strong, prosperous and
vibrant ummah in sync with the realities of the 21st century.

He said in order to realise the objective, the OIC institutions were currently
in the process of preparing a mid-term review of the implementation of the
Ten-Year Programme of Action and Vision 1441H for Science and Technology.

"These landmark documents contain inter-alia the new OIC Vision and the roadmap
for empowering the ummah in