The Executive Director COMSATS held a meeting with H.E. Mr. Alireza Haghighian, Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan, on 8th May 2014, at the Iranian Embassy in Islamabad. The objective of the meeting was to brief the honourable Ambassador regarding the forthcoming 17th Meeting of COMSATS Coordinating Council to be hosted by COMSATS’ Center of Excellence in Iran, the Iranian Research Organization for Science & Technology (IROST), on 19-20 May 2014. Other matters related to enhancing COMSATS’ S&T cooperation with IROST were also discussed during the meeting.

The Executive Director highlighted the composition of COMSATS Coordinating Council, which comprises of Heads of eighteen renowned R&D institutions in developing countries that are affiliated with COMSATS as its Centres of Excellence. The Executive Director informed that the Coordinating Council meets every year at one of the Centres of Excellence to, inter alia: review the activities of COMSATS’ Network of Centers of Excellence; follow up on the decisions and recommendations made in the last meeting; and outline the future course of action. The honourable Ambassador was informed that the 17th Coordinating Council Meeting will be inaugurated by H.E. Dr. Reza Faraji-Dana, Minister for Science, Research and Technology, Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on 19th May 2014. A working paper of the meeting was also handed over to the Ambassador.

While discussing COMSATS’ programmes in Member States, Dr. Qureshi explained the activities of COMSATS’ International Thematic Research Groups, which have been established to undertake joint research projects in areas of common interest with participation of researchers from different Member States. The honourable Ambassador was informed about the three active ITRGs, i.e. Climate Change and Environmental Protection (led by ICCES, China), Natural Products Sciences (led by ICCBS, Pakistan), and Information and Communication Technologies (led by CIIT, Pakistan). It was informed that IROST, Iran, is a member of ITRGs on ‘Climate Change and Environmental Protection’ and ‘Natural Products Sciences’. Considering that Iran has made huge strides in the field of renewable energy, particularly in the production of Hydrogen from Algae, a proposal regarding the establishment of an ITRG on ‘Renewable Energy’ led by IROST will also be presented during the 17th Coordinating Council Meeting.

The honourable Ambassador appreciated COMSATS’ programmes for facilitating scientific capacity building and South-South cooperation in S&T. He assured that he will fully support COMSATS’ programmes involving Iranian S&T organizations.