The idea of a joint Commission of countries of the South originally came from Pakistani Nobel Laureat, Prof. Dr. Abdus Salam, in recognition of the increasingly widening gap of knowledge as well as development between the North and the South. It was realized that sustainable socio-economic development in the South cannot be achieved without building and sustaining indigenous capacities in science and technology and that the strengthening of South-South and North-South collaboration, and exchange of technical know-how, is imperative for generation and sustenance of such capacities. Professor Salam's enthusiasm and personal approach motivated a number of heads of states and governments of developing nations to join forces on the platform of the Commission.