UAE to attend OIC's first science and technology summit in Astana

The United Arab Emirates will be participating in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s first summit on science and technology here from 10 September to 11 September. [caption id=“attachment_4027575” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Summit on Science and Technology. OIC website.[/caption] Ahmad bin Abdulla Humaid Belhoul AlFalasi, Minister of State for Higher Education, who is representing the UAE, said that Muslims have laid down a great human civilisation and during the Islamic era, the world witnessed an unprecedented prosperity in the science of medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, astronomy, philosophy, and others due to the many achievements of Islamic scholars. During the opening session, OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen said that the Astana summit would witness a historic milestone, as it will evolve a unified collective position with a view to advancing the different fields of **science** , technology, and innovation. AlFalasi added that the UAE believed in the importance and the role of science and knowledge, as they are the cornerstone of economic diversification, stressing that the UAE was a pioneer in many fields, as it officially entered the world race to explore outer space through its “Mars Hope” project, the first Arab mission to another planet. **Other than** UAE,  NASA’s next Mars mission known as InSight, which is scheduled for a 2018 lift-off, is set to focus on examining the deep interior of Mars, the US space agency had announced. With inputs from IANS