AbstractThis text is taken from a paper entitled ‘Science and technology in the development of Arab States’ (SC-76/CASTARAB/3), which constituted the main working document of the Conference of Ministers of Arab States Responsible for the Application of Science and Technology to Development (CASTARAB), organized by UNESCO with the cooperation of Alecso (Arab Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization), and ECWA (Economic Commission for Western Asia), and held in Rabat, Morocco, 16–25 August 1976.