President for fair distribution of science & technology’s benefits for humanity’s development
President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday stressed the need for ethical and morality-based research and development in biotechnology, agriculture and virology besides fair distribution of its benefits to provide food security to the entire world without discrimination between rich and poor countries.
The President expressed these views while addressing the inaugural session of the Kazakhstan-Pakistan-Turkiye Youth Forum on Biotechnology, at COMSTECH Secretariat. The inaugural session was attended by members of the scientific and diplomatic community from Iraq, Turkiye, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Morocco, Russia, Jordan and Pakistan, whereas over 800 participants from 35 countries joined the event virtually.
Addressing the ceremony, the President said that the applications of biotechnology in genome editing, new breeding technologies, large-scale genomics and genomic selection in crop and livestock breeding, speed breeding for rapid genetic gain, Nanotechnology for Agriculture Applications, were affecting many sectors, especially food and agriculture, and could be used to achieve food security and end world hunger.
He said that although the entire Muslim world had a large land area, however, either this land remained unutilized or the agriculture yield was very low, compared to the developed world. This, he said, had resulted in incidents of food insecurity and consequential political and economic unrest and societal tension.
He argued that by developing disease-resistant high-yield crop varieties having the ability to adapt to any given environment, and promoting vertical and hydroponic farming, the needs of people and the rest of the world could be met in compliance with Islamic ethical and moral values based upon solidarity and compassion.
He said that the Muslim world should take intellect-driven right decisions at the right time with the passion to set the direction right for their people. He said that the Muslim world should be the first to adopt existing knowledge, generate new knowledge and bring innovation and advancement in every sector to cater to the needs of our present and coming generations.
Sami Sedar, CEO of the Young Business Hub, Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum from Turkiye while explaining the aims and objectives of the Youth Forum of Biotechnology said that the Youth Forum was aimed at creating a bridge between young scientists of member countries for sharing of their expertise and knowledge.
