President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the opening ceremony of the second Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on science and technology held as videoconference. The event under the motto "Science, technology and innovation: opening new horizons" is chaired by the United Arab Emirates.
Speaking as chairman of the first OIC Summit on Science and Technology, the President of Kazakhstan, on behalf of all delegations, expressed gratitude to the United Arab Emirates and the OIC Secretary General for organizing the virtual summit.
Speaking about the unprecedented challenges of our time, Tokayev called for adoption of coordinated actions to achieve a stable and prosperous future for the OIC nations and the entire planet.
He believes that the present historical mission of the Organization is to move forward along the path of scientific progress, paying tribute to the great personalities of the past. The President expressed gratitude to the OIC states for the adoption at the 47th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of a special resolution on the occasion of the 1150th anniversary of the great thinker Abu Nasr Al-Farabi.
Tokayev noted that the Astana Declaration of the first Summit and implementation of the OIC Program through to 2026 helped determine the most urgent goals and objectives for the further development of the Organization. Based on this, a number of practical proposals were voiced in the speech.
In the context of common efforts to combat the pandemic, the President called for a fair distribution of vaccines and pointed out inadmissibility of their use as a political tool.He informed about development of Kazakhstan’s anti-covid QazVac vaccine, currently undergoing the WHO approval procedure.
"Kazakhstan will be ready to provide its vaccine to the OIC countries as humanitarian aid. We can also consider the possibility of producing QazVac in other OIC countries," he said, also expressing readiness for a wider and deeper exchange of knowledge and technologies, noting the existence of a modern integrated infrastructure for scientific research and development.
The President believes that improving the quality of education and scientific research should be prioritized in the OIC. He announced Kazakhstan's intention to increase funding for science to 1% by 2025, and education to 7% of GDP.Readiness of Kazakhstan was announced to allocate 100 grants on the bachelor program in domestic universities for OIC countries’ students.
Digitalizing the economy, improving the quality of public services, continuing to support the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries were broached. Tokayev shared on our country’s efforts in combating climate change, protecting the environment, decarbonizing the economy.The future of the OIC countries, he said, depends on success in scientific, technical and innovative development. It is important to strengthen and develop our scientific cooperation.
The President of Kazakhstan congratulated the Government and people of the Emirates on the 50th anniversary of Independence and successful launch of the Al-Amal satellite into Mars orbit, stressing that this achievement is of great value for the entire Islamic world.
By the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda
