Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 24/06/2010
Your Excellency, Mr. Richard BURGE Chief Executive, Wilton Park, Steyning Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is indeed a great pleasure to be with you today at the 1037th Wilton Park Conference focusing on Science Diplomacy. Please allow me on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to extend my deep appreciation to Wilton Park and to the other organizers for inviting me to share our thoughts at this Conference. Excellencies, Science Diplomacy in our understanding is the bridging of the ties between countries and cultures through sharing scientific knowledge and technologies with the aim of building partnership within international community. The term “Science diplomacy” is a new name for an old concept. It replaces and amplifies the old expression of “the transfer of Science and Technology” or “technical cooperation” and the like. Science diplomacy is still a fluid concept emerging from a fresh surge of interest in linking science more directly to foreign policy priorities of countries. With the prevalence of the role of science and technology in today’s economic endeavours and knowledge economy, it is evident that foreign policy planners start to focus on science cooperation and placing it higher on their political agenda, making science diplomacy one of the key elements of their foreign policy. Science diplomacy has a great deal to offer, and holds potential uses in forging partnerships in many domains, because it acts as a source of “soft power” and can improve any country’s attractiveness. The broader ways in which science informs foreign policy have engendered a greater emphasis on science in the formation of the strategies, and in drawing more extensively on scientific advise in the setting up of policy objectives. Some of the objectives of using science and scientific cooperation is to enhance international understanding and offering a form for policymakers and scientists to share information and explore collaborative cooperation. Although science diplomacy has proven to be very useful in forging partnership and cooperation in fields like education, agriculture, health E-government, cultural cooperation, and good governance, there is no denial that it is also used to further countries’ interests and wider goals. Ladies and Gentlemen, The aforesaid is a glimpse of the newly emerging concept of science diplomacy, at the core of which lies the transfer of science and technology. It seems to me that this concept is being discussed mainly from a Eurocentric vantage view. A demonstrative example of what I have said would be what Francis Bacon has alluded to as three inventions that have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world in his reference to ‘printing, gunpowder and compass’. These inventions are really products of ‘transfer of knowledge’ that happened between East and the West, from China to the Muslim World to Europe. Despite Bacon’s reference to their obscure origin, those transfer of mechanical inventions and their knowledge from the East to the West had contributed to innumerable changes and if we use Bacon’s words in his ‘Novum Organum’ and I quote ‘No empire, no sect, no state and no star has seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries’ (Novum Organum, Liber I, CXXIX) I know that there are, here, many who know and appreciate the vast extent of the brilliant Islamic contributions to science, innovation and world’s civilization that have, profoundly, impacted modern civilization. The Muslim world was the birthplace of one of the most illuminated scientific traditions of the world that produced prestigious and well-renowned houses of learning and gave birth to illustrious and eminent scientists in numerous fields of knowledge. The saga of disseminating and transmitting knowledge and science from the Muslim world to Medieval Europe was one of the most significant examples of mass transferring of science and innovation in the world. If we look to the travels of scholars from Europe to centers of Learning in the Muslim World and the translation movement from Arabic to Hebrew and Latin and the process of transferring Arabo-Islamic scientific legacy to the West, I think it was one of the most glorious chapters of inter-civilizational connections in the history of mankind. In today’s parlance we can say, with confidence, that this was the earliest precursor of the manifestation of science diplomacy. To underline this fact, I would also like to quote Hegel, the German Philosopher of the 18th century who emphasized in his “Lectures on Philosophy of History” that “Science and knowledge were a legacy of the Arab (Muslims) to the Western world”. Voltaire, the famous French Philosopher of the 18th century, in turn, avowed in the Preface of his essay “On Universal History, the Manners and Spirits of Nations, from the Reign of Charlemagne to the age of Lewis the Fourteenth that “Western world received almost every thing from the Arabs (Muslims)”. This assertion did not come out of a vacuum, it was the result of what Islam has inculcated in the spirits of Muslims. The first verse in the Quran starts by calling upon us to read i.e. seek knowledge. Prophet Mohammed exhorted Muslims to search for knowledge even from distant places such as China, and from the cradle and beginning of life to the tomb. This exhortation was instrumental in breeding generations of scholars of highly learned people, who created a culture based on knowledge that turned out to become a principle driving force and a prime mover of scientific revolution that impacted the world. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Today within the realm of the OIC, we are carrying our science diplomacy activities based on the premise that “OIC member states are committed to become a community that values knowledge and is competent in utilizing and advancing science and technology to enhance socio-economic well-being of the Muslim world”. Two important decisions were taken in the present decade for the revival of Islamic Ummah: The first one is Vision 1441 for the revitalization of Science and Technology in Member States adopted by the 10th Islamic Summit Conference held in Putrajaya, Malaysia in September 2003; The second decision is the OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action adopted by the Third Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference held in Makkah Al-Mukarramah in December 2005 which covers the entire spectrum of the OIC working areas – related to politics, economy, social and cultural affairs, higher education, science and technology, health and humanitarian issues. In this context, and as one of the objectives of this meeting is to foster positive re-engagement with the Islamic world, allow me to say that the OIC General Secretariat is presently embarking on a number of initiatives, among them is Selection of Universities in the OIC region to compete with world class universities. The final goal is to select at least 20 universities to join the list of world-class universities. The selected universities will then be taken as models for others to follow suit. Another initiative lies in two categories of science related projects; the Early Harvest and Mega Projects which encourages the involvement of the private sector in technological capacity-building of the Member States and in cooperation with private sectors of non-OIC Member States. The main features of this project are defining Fast Tracked, Focused, Functional and Financially sound projects for the viability of R&D in Science and Technology and Innovation. Moreover and in order to appraise the existing situation of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Muslim world, we need to come up with a novel method of mapping their composition through a comprehensive and painstaking data acquisition and data interpretation. The OIC General Secretariat together with European partners lead by the Royal Society have already launched a project of the Atlas of Muslim-World Innovation. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Using this opportunity, we would wish that the Royal Society may take the lead in sharing its experience with the OIC Member States in the area of Human Resources development, using the various channels of workshops, training courses, seminars and conferences. We also look forward for holding short courses, periodic technological exhibitions and joint research activities using the potential of developed countries in these areas and science diplomacy to help OIC Member States in the domains of ICT, Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Material Sciences, Space Technology, Climate Change and Renewable Energy. Finally, I wish you all success in your deliberations and once again, I thank you for allowing us to share some of our views on the subject matter under discussion today, and to seek help and assistance for our Member States. I am confident that your deliberations will be fruitful and that the outcome of this meeting will result in consolidating the relationship between Wilton Park, the Royal Society and Commonwealth foundation on the one hand and the OIC on the other. Thank you.
