Some 20 high-level experts will meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as part of the inaugural Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)-TWAS Workshop on Science and Diplomacy in the Developing World.

Among the expert speakers will be Lassina Zerbo, United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO); Vaughan Turekian, former science adviser to the US Secretary of State; Abdul Hamid Zakri, former science adviser to the Prime Pinister of Malaysia, founding Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and member of the UN Scientific Advisory Board (2014-2016).

These distinguished speakers will be joined by Hayat Sindi, Senior Advisor to the IsDB President; Yousuf Al-Bulushi, Head of Knowledge & Technology Transfer Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oman; as well as Hon. Mr. Mohammed H. Abdullahi, Minister of State for Science & Technology, Nigeria; and Hon. Mr. Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Pakistan. TWAS President, Mohamed Hassan, will also be attending.

Among the topics under discussion during the event will be shared ‘Infrastructures’, ‘Food Security’, ‘Public Health and Air Quality’, ‘Water-Energy-Land Nexus’, with a final discussion session involving the two science ministers on ‘Bringing Science Advice to Foreign Policy’.

Discussions for each topic will focus on current science diplomacy activities and further needs of the IsDB’s 57 member states. Participants will also attend an official keynote address by the President of the IsDB, H.E. Bandar M. H. Hajjar. The event takes place under the auspices of an agreement signed between the IsDB and TWAS earlier this year.