11 September 2004	Saturday	25 Rajab 1425

ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: The post 9/11 events have placed restrictions on Muslim countries in acquiring scientific knowledge, observed Islamic Development Bank's Secretary for Science and Technology, Muhammad Ali Toure.

Mr Toure said the IDB had adopted the development of science in Muslim countries as a mission and apportioned a quarter of its $1.2 billion budget to carry on this work. The doors of studies have been closed to students and many have not even been allowed to continue their studies.

He made these remarks during a representation made to him on the centre of excellence project, aimed at capacity building on research and development in space technology at the Space Technology Institute (STI) here Friday.

The institute is seeking Rs4.2 billion financing from IDB, spread over five years, for setting up two schools of engineering and science as well as an ancillary department of humanities and social sciences.

He said that the IDB would sanction the grant to the project after the endorsement from the Pakistan government. The IDB official is now visiting Pakistan in connection with the OIC states biotechnology conference.

Mr. Toure stressed the need for resource sharing among Muslim countries. He added that the institute should be encouraged to create opportunities of training for experts and students from OIC states to share their experiences as well as to gain knowledge in diverse scientific fields.

The project should not encounter any difficulty from the IDB which charged only processing fee at a nominal rate that never exceeded 2.5 per cent. The post 9/11 developments have forced Muslim countries to take stock of their science progress and the STI project answered the needs for reorientation in science education and training of scientists.

Human resource development of Muslim countries is a key programme of the bank, which was keen to help them fill the gap, Mr. Toure said. He was excited with the project outline, which was presented to him by STI director Ayaz Aziz.

He said it was an encouraging programme and should be sent well in time at the next Kazakhstan-Pakistan IDB sponsored workshop at Almaty so that the idea may take off.

Kazakhstan has a heritage in this technology because of past association with Russia. The IDB official also suggested the project should be tied with Turkey which has helped STI in 'Badar' satellite programme as well as with Indonesia for evaluation endorsement, which would be a plus point in getting his bank's approval.

The STI director said Pakistan led other Muslim countries in its capabilities of space sciences and wanted the centre of excellence established in pursuance of the recommendations of international seminar on science and technology of December 23-24 last, which proposed the establishment of such a centre in Pakistan to meet research and development needs of a number of Muslim countries, such as Africa, Saudi Arabia, the gulf countries and particularly the Palestine, where the students have advanced in knowledge but have been entirely shut out from the science institutions of the western countries.

"We have an eye on the sky and our ultimate goal is to launch satellite vehicles, polar and geostationery meteorological satellites, sounding rockets and associated experimentation payloads, conduct microgravity experiments for materials processing and low cost navigational instrumentation as well as to make surveillance satellites," Mr Aziz said.

The institute's registrar, Farooq Khokhar, said the institute has a proactive programme in attracting expatriate scientists such as Dr Sarwar Naqvi, professor of aerospace science who had come from Boston, Dr. Ghazala Rafique, professor of mathematics, and Dr Mujahid from Oxford University, who is working on materials.