A hi-tea was arranged in honor of the Ambassadors/High Commissioners and other members of the diplomatic community of COMSATS’ member countries on 20th September 2019, in Islamabad. The objective of the graceful gathering was to brief them about the forthcoming high-profile events of COMSATS to be held in Ghana in October 2019. The gathering comprised of Ambassadors/High Commissioners of Azerbaijan, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Yemen; Political Secretary of UAE, and Romania, as well as other officials from US Embassy and German companies in Pakistan.

One of the events is the Heads of State-level General Meeting of COMSATS that is being convened by the incumbent Chairperson of COMSATS, Hon. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, in Accra. The Meeting will take place in concurrence with Accra Forum on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development, “a new initiative of COMSATS” as dubbed by Ambassador Shahid Kamal, Advisor at COMSATS, who briefed the honorable guests about it.

The briefing on the 4th General Meeting was given by Executive Director of COMSATS, Dr. S. M. Junaid Zaidi, who introduced the august gathering with the mission, structure, membership, ongoing activities and future plans of the organization. It was informed that the emphasis of the Accra meetings would be on collectively achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals though South-South and Triangular Cooperation in science and technology.

Briefing on the Accra Forum, Ambassador Kamal gave a historic perspective of UN 2030 Agenda and highlighted the importance of science and technology for sustainable development. He stated that Accra Forum will serve as a platform to discuss and identify challenges and mechanisms to strengthen scientific and technological capacity to implement SDGs. It would give an opportunity to COMSATS’ member countries to make connections, create stronger network, share insights, and learn from one another on using science and technology to strengthen their response to the needs and challenges related to SDGs. The forum would result in greater cooperation between COMSATS Centres of Excellence, science academies and S&T institutions; information exchange to assist in identification of knowledge gaps & solutions to SDGs; greater connectivity & collaboration; and formation of an Advisory Council to guide and support the work of the Accra Forum.

An important highlight of the event was video-messages from the heads of Centres of Excellence of COMSATS, felicitating COMSATS on its silver jubilee. These messages contained good wishes, pledges of strong cooperation in future, as well as gratitude for the benefits from associating with the Network of Centres of Excellence.

The Executive Director also recalled and appreciated the services of two senior officials of COMSATS, who had been associated with COMSATS since its inception; Mr. Tajammul Hussain, Advisor (Programmes), and Director (Administration and Establishment), Mr. Bilal Chohan.

A cake-cutting ceremony was also held commemorating the 25th Anniversary of COMSATS.