On 23rd June 2025, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Pakistan, His Excellency Md. Iqbal Hussain Khan, called on the Executive Director of COMSATS, Ambassador Dr. Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, to explore avenues of cooperation. The High Commissioner was accompanied by couple of officers of the High Commission. Senior officers of COMSATS also attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the Executive Director gave a briefing on COMSATS to the High Commissioner. He introduced COMSATS as an intergovernmental organization of developing countries, having Bangladesh as a founding Member State. He informed that the very idea of establishing COMSATS was coined by the Pakistani Nobel Laureate and Physicist, Prof. Dr. Abdus Salam, whose tireless efforts resulted in establishment of the organization in 1994. He apprised that the mission of COMSATS is to stride for providing tech-based solutions to Member States, now 27 in number, for facilitating their socio-economic development.
He briefed the High Commissioner that COMSATS performs its role through a number of Statutory bodies; a General Meeting having Heads of States/Governments as members; Consultative Committee, represented by heads of Ministerial bodies, as well as the Coordinating Council, a representative body of COMSATS Network composed of the Heads of its affiliated S&T Centres of Excellence. He remarked that the Network provides technical resource base for COMSATS’ programmatic activities and that the Network now has 25 Centres as Members, latest being from Europe, the University of Granada, Spain. He informed that the Republic of Ghana holds the Chair of COMSATS and its incumbent President, Hon. John Dramani Mahama is the Chairperson of the Commission.
Briefing about the financial structure to support COMSATS, the Executive Director informed that as per its Statutes the Member States make Annual Membership Contributions (AMC). In this regard, he informed the High Commissioner that a revised formula for AMC has been prepared by the Secretariat and shared with relevant statutory body.
He also presented a dossier containing the COMSATS’ Performance Report, list of Clusters of COMSATS Centres of Excellence, and recent correspondence with COMSATS’ Member States regarding the AMC. Ambassador Zakaria highlighted COMSATS’ ongoing initiatives, including advancements in Electric Vehicle (EV) technologies for sustainable growth and the establishment of an ISO-certified Nanotechnology Lab. Additionally, he shared details about postgraduate scholarships offered by COMSATS’ Centres of Excellence, such as the recent scholarship offerings by COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI).
The High Commissioner commended COMSATS for its efforts in advancing tech-based solutions and upholding the legacy of Prof. Abdus Salam. He also appreciated the Executive Director for the new initiatives he has taken. He expressed great interest in enhancing academic collaboration for Bangladeshi students to take advantage of COMSATS’ scholarship offers. The Executive Director extended invitation to the High Commissioner to personally visit COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), meet its leadership and witness firsthand the facilities at the University; to which he agreed.
During his visit to CUI, the High Commissioner received briefing on CUI’s research and development activities, academic programs offered, scholarship opportunities for international students, and major achievements. He was also given a tour of the Nanotechnology Lab at the campus as well as its main Library.
The visit concluded on the note of enhancing cooperation of Bangladesh with COMSATS and its other Member States, in the fields of education, research, and technology, in order to promote innovation and sustainable development.
