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Twenty science ministers from Muslim countries are expected to give their blessing at the World Conference on Science to plans for a major exhibition on science, technology and medicine in Islam.

The exhibition is to be organized jointly by Unesco and its counterpart organization, the Islamic Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Organization, based in Morocco.

The exhibition will move to a new country every six months. It will begin in Granada, Spain, from where it is expected to follow a route that will take in the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

The ministers will also meet at the conference to agree a strategy document on the future of science in the Muslim world.

Atta-ur-Rahman, coordinator-general of Comstech, the ministerial standing committee for scientific and technological cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Countries, says three critical issues that many developing countries need to solve are skills shortages, excessive bureaucracy, and poor salaries for scientists.

Rahman, who was announced last week as the recipient of this year's Unesco science prize, believes that governments should pick out “the brightest students from high schools and have them trained in selected disciplines at the best universities and research centres in the Western world”.

Rahman says he believes that the scientific progress of the developing world “will lead to a decrease in international tensions, and lead to a more harmonious and healthier global environment”.

Full text: http://helix.nature.com/wcs/a41.html