Thousands visit Malta project at S.African Exhibition Centre

by Steve Chetcuti

Thousands of people visited the "Commonwealth Network of IT for Development" (Comnet-IT) stand at the Durban International Exhibition Centre in South Africa last Saturday. The project is a joint initiative between the government of Malta and the Commonwealth Secretariat and the exhibition coincided with the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.

The visit of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to the project on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting sparked most interest. The Comnet-lT stand was at the centre of the Royal party's visit to the exhibition and the executive director of Comnet-lT, Henry Alamango, and his partner Ken Lum, director of science and technology at the Commonwealth Secretariat, were given the task of explaining the working of the foundation.

"We explained to the Royal Party the two dimensions of our stand, namely the popularisation of science and technology by means of the interactive exhibits and the professional development in science and technology," Mr Alamango said.

Mr Alamango outlined how the network, through the Internet, helped people in different countries in research and exchange of problems and solutions.

Comnet-lT was registered as a foundation in Malta in 1995 following the Auckland CHOGM. The foundation's mission is to promote a Commonwealth Information Infrastructure.

It is a partner with the Commonwealth Secretariat in another project, the Commonwealth Knowledge Network, which gathers the science councils of all member States. South African President Thabo Mbeki was expected to launch the network but other engagements forced him to postpone the visit until Sunday. Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami also called off a visit to the stand, which is situated in the Commonwealth Peoples Centre, as he had a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth.

Despite President Mbeki's absence, South African Minister of Science and Technology Ben Ngubane launched the Commonwealth Knowledge Network. The Minister also launched the ComQuest Project, which is being coordinated by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Welsh Techniquest Science Discovery Centre.

Work on the Commonwealth Knowledge Network began last June and is intended to broker and deliver science and technology solutions to development problems of member countries.

On the other hand, ComQuest aims at sharing science Knowledge, building people's confidence in science and technology and to help develop scientists and engineers of the future.

During the launch, the Minister stressed on the need for more awareness on science and technology which, in recent years, had been taken for granted.

"People do not realise the amount of research and development which was involved in creating simple household appliances, such as the oven, phone or television. But when something goes wrong, science and technology is always blamed," Dr Ngubane remarked.

He expressed his wish that students would be so impressed with the exhibition they would consider taking up a career in science and technology.