Commission on Science and Technology for Development, eighth session

The Commission on Science and Technology for Development will hold its eighth session on 23-27 May.

The Commission, at its seventh session in May 2004, chose as the substantive theme for its intersessional period 2004-2005 "Science and technology promotion, advice and application for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals". In undertaking this theme, the Commission held a panel meeting to study the following three subthemes:

• the mutual interaction and dependence of science and technology education with R&D;
• infrastructure building as a foundation for scientific and technological development; and
• promoting gainful employment in general and enterprise development in particular through the use of existing and emerging technologies, especially information and communication technologies (ICT) and biotechnologies.

The findings and recommendations that have emerged from this panel will be considered by the Commission at its eighth session. The outcome of the deliberations will be submitted to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Commission will also review progress made on decisions taken at its seventh regular session in May 2004.

Resource persons for the eighth session will include Nobel Laureate Richard Ernst (Switzerland); Nobel Laureate Jerome Karle (US); Atta-ur-Rahman, Federal Minister and Chairman of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan; Motsoahae Thabane, Minister of Communication, Science and Technology of Lesotho; Gordon Conway, Chief Scientific Advisor to the DFID; Professor Sanjaya Lall, Oxford University; Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman and CEO of TAGO; Bruno Lanvin, Senior Advisor at the World Bank; and John Mugabe, science advisor to NEPAD.

For further information, please contact:
Mr. Mongi Hamdi, Chief
Science and Technology
Policies and Capacity-Building Branch
Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development
UNCTAD
Tel.: (00 41) 22 917 5069
Email: mongi.hamdi@unctad.org