<<Print>>

President John Dramani Mahama has stated that the government will accelerate efforts at making science and technology a major tool in development. He said there was a direct relationship among science, technology and development and his government would not deviate from that relationship as it worked to advance national development. He said science and technology had the capacity to accelerate Ghana�s transition from a lower middle-income nation to an upper middle-income country. President Mahama said this when Dr Imtinan Elahi Qureshi, the Executive Director of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) led a delegation to call on him at the Flagstaff House on Monday He said since Ghana was an agrarian country and relied on rains for its agriculture, making science and technology the focus of agricultural development was important. President Mahama indicated that Ghana had the comparative advantage to increase production and export to neighbouring countries. CSIR involvement President Mahama expressed satisfaction that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) had been part of the proceedings of COMSATS. He expressed the hope that the CSIR�s involvement would help in the government's development agenda. COMSATS Dr Qureshi, who was at the seat of government to brief President Mahama on the performance of COMSATS, outlined some of its programmes for the year. The COMSATS, which brings together science and technology-related groups, was started in 1994, with its headquarters in Islamabad, Pakistan. Among others, it undertakes collaborative research programmes in partnership with development agencies. It also offers scholarships and training facilities at the International Centre for Climate and Environment Sciences in China. Dr Qureshi commended the government for the invitation extended to him to come and share ideas with Ghanaians on science and technology. He said COMSATS had established a university with 25,000 students from across the world.