ISLAMABAD, June 12: The third six-day international Bhurban conference on applied sciences and technologies (IBCAST) concluded with the hope that the nation would build strong and enduring capacities in science and technology for a brighter future and bettering economic growth.

The event organized by the National Engineering and Science Commission (Nescom) was presided over by chairman KRL Dr Javed Arshad Mirza.

Addressing an audience comprising representatives from research, development and scientific organizations, Dr Mirza said advances made in the challenging fields of applied sciences and technology were imperative to break the scientific and technological isolation of our region.

Reading figures from a report prepared by the United Nations Development Programme, he said the top 20 per cent of the world's population in terms of wealth received 83 per cent of the income while the bottom 20 per cent received 1.4 per cent.

He said even more shocking was the fact that the assets of the world's three richest people now exceeded the combined GDP of the 48 poorest nations. And the assets of the world's 15 richest people exceeded the GDP of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa; home to more than 630 million people. He said the cause of the staggering differentiation

was lack of knowledge and inability of the developing world to cope with the challenges of science.

"Developed countries are leaving behind developing countries and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is huge and widening".

The exclusive control of the modern world on the spread of knowledge, the meagre resources of the developing world and the selfishly created hurdles in the path of development in shape of the restrictions on the spread of technology have all created an environment of a virtual "scientific apartheid", he maintained.

Dr Mirza contented that a nation like Pakistan must rise to the challenges of the times and meet the contemporary world eyeball to eyeball.

He stressed on strong joint efforts between the public and the private sectors and most importantly among the developing nations.

Speakers included scientific secretary National Centre for Physics Dr Hafeez Hoorani and Prof Riazuddin, director international Bhurban conference on applied sciences and technologies.