COMSATS

Not to be confused with COMSATS Institute of Information Technology.
The Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (abbreviated as COMSATS) is an inter-governmental organization, having a membership of 23 developing countries from three continents, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Twenty S&T/R&D institutions of developing countries are affiliated with COMSATS as its Network of International S&T Centres of Excellence for Sustainable Development in the South. The organization aims at sustainable socio-economic uplift of the developing countries through appropriate applications of science and technology using the approach of South-South cooperation.

H.E. John Dramani Mahama, the President of Ghana, is the incumbent Chairperson of COMSATS, who assumed this position on 24 July 2012. The current Executive Director of COMSATS is Dr. Imtinan Elahi Qureshi who succeeded Dr. Hameed Ahmed Khan in September 2008.

The Network of COMSATS’ Centres of Excellence is governed by a Coordinating Council (comprising the heads of Network Member Institutions), the Consultative Committee (comprising the national focal points in Member States) and the Technical Advisory Committee (comprising senior scientists and technologists from the North and the South). The Consultative Committee id chaired by the Federal Secretary, Ministry of Science and technology, Government of Pakistan, and the Coordinating Council elects its Chairperson from among its members. These positions are currently being held by Mr. Fazal Abbas Maken, and Dr. Eduardo Posada Flórez, Executive Director International Centre for Physics (CIF), Colombia. The Secretariat of COMSATS is permanently located in Islamabad, Pakistan, and is supported by the grants from the Government of Pakistan. It plays a dual role of the Secretariat and Headquarters of the Network of Centres of Excellence.