The 59th sitting of the Committee of Plenipotentiary Representatives of member states of the International Centre for Scientific and Technical Information took place in Alexandria (ARE), in Bibliotheca Alexandrina, on 16th May 2008 and was attended by the Plenipotentiary Representatives of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Bulgaria, Republic of Cuba, Arab Republic of Egypt, Georgia, Republic of Hungary, Republic of India, Republic of Kazakhstan (upon authorization), Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (upon authorization), Republic of Latvia (upon authorization), Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Republic of Poland, Romania (upon authorization), Russian Federation, Republic of South Africa, Ukraine and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, experts and advisers of the Plenipotentiary Representatives, as well as experts from ICSTI headquarters. Representatives of invited organizations participated as observers.
The sitting was preceded by an international conference Science and technology innovations: national experience and international cooperation, organized on 15th May 2008 jointly by ICSTI, the Ministry of Higher Education and Science Research of ARE and several other Egyptian organizations.
During the opening session of the conference Dr. Ahmed B. Khairy, First-Under-Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of ARE, Prof. Tarek Hussein, President of Academy of Scientific Research and Technology of ARE, Prof. Adel L. Mohamadein, Vice President, Alexandria University, Mr. Ameer Wassef, Member, Board of Borg El Arab Investors, Dr. John Miller, Chief Librarian, UNESCO Library, addressed the gathering with words of welcome.
The 59th CPR sitting was chaired by Dr. Ahmed B. Khairy, Plenipotentiary Representative of Arab Republic of Egypt.