SESRIC received a delegation from the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation on 21 September 2010 at its headquarters. The delegation comprised of Ms. Natalia Pipia, Senior Programme Manager at CRDF, and Mr. Khaled J. Touqan, Director of CRDF Jordan and MENA Office.

At the outset, Mr. Nabil M. Dabour, Director of Research Department at SESRIC, expressed his thanks and welcome to the delegates and briefed them on the statistics and research activities of the Centre in the fields that have science and technology components, such as agriculture, water, energy, health, as well as eGovernment and information technology. In particular he highlighted the regular report of the Centre on “Research and Scientific Development of OIC Member Countries”, which portrays an overview of the performance of the OIC member countries as well as their achievements in the field of research and development (R&D) and science & technology (S&T) in order to track the overall level of preparedness of the countries towards a knowledge-based economy.

Subsequently Mr. Mehmet F. Serenli, Director of Training and Technical Cooperation Department, informed the delegation on training and technical cooperation activities of the Centre, in particular the Atlas of Islamic World Innovation Project, which aims to map and evaluate the changing landscape of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) across fifteen OIC countries by determining the rising hotspots for innovation as well as looking to how STI can contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction in some of the less-developed countries of the Islamic World through the analysis of the latest data, trends and case studies. Mr. Serenli also informed the delegation that the Centre has developed and initiated the Vocational Education and Training Programme for OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET), which comprises a number of sub-programmes and projects, including the OIC Capacity Building Programme (OIC-CaB), OIC International Students Internship Programme (OIC-ISIP), OIC Training Opportunities (TROP) an others.

On her part, Ms. Natalia Pipia, Senior Programme Manager at CRDF, expressed her thanks for the SESRIC team for their warm receiving of the delegation and informed them about the purpose, objectives and activities of the CRDF in the region. She also stated that the CRDF is willing to cooperate with OIC and its concerned institutions in the field of science and technology on broad range of topics that would entail cooperative research and partnerships for stronger relationship among the OIC family and the U.S. On the other hand, Mr. Khaled J. Touqan, Director of CRDF Jordan and MENA Office, emphasises the need for closer cooperation and collaboration between the U.S. and OIC Member Countries to promote the application of science and technology to economic growth through international partnerships and training foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

During the discussion, the two parties elaborated on areas of possible cooperation between SESRIC and CRDF, including the possibility of joint projects and programmes on issues related to science and technology.