Personal tools
News from ICTP 99 - What's New
A recent meeting on the coast of North Africa promises to
strengthen ties between scientific communities in Trieste and
Tunisia.
Tunisia and Trieste
Italy's President Carlo Azeglio
Ciampi and representatives from Trieste's scientific community,
including ICTP Director Miguel Virasoro, met with their counterparts
in Tunisia in late October to discuss potential avenues of future
cooperation. The meeting, which took place in the villa, El
Kousour, at Gamarth, near the capital city of Tunis, was opened
by Abdelkrim Zbidi, representing Tunisia's Minister for Scientific
and Technological Research, and Armando Sanguini, Italian Ambassador
to Tunisia, who was responsible for organising the event.
Discussions focussed on how the "Trieste System" of
scientific institutions--ICTP, Third
World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), InterAcademy Panel on International Issues (IAP),
International
Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB),
International
Centre for Science and Technology (ICS), University of Trieste, and Area Science Park--could pursue projects of
mutual interest to Italy and Tunisia. One positive outcome of
the meeting was the creation of an ICTP affiliate centre in applied
mathematics at the Polytechnic of Tunis, which will begin operations
next year.
President Ciampi was in Tunisia both as representative of the
Italian government and the European Union. As a result, his presence
carried wide-ranging significance for future relationships between
scientific communities in Europe and those in Tunisia and the
entire African continent. In fact, the seeds of cooperation, planted
and nurtured by Trieste's scientific community with scientists
and scientific institutions throughout the developing world over
the past three decades, may be on the verge of blossoming into
full partnerships--thanks to the convergence of a number of factors.
First, nations such as Tunisia are making sustained investments
in science and technology. The positive impacts of these investments
were clearly on display at the meeting in Tunisia not only in
terms of the scientific discussions that took place, but also
in the engaging interactive exhibits found in the recently opened
Tunis Science City, which has been designed to encourage enthusiasm
for science among students of all ages. Representatives from Tunis
Science City will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with
Fondazione internazionale Trieste per il progresso e la libertà
delle scienze and other Trieste institutions designed to enhance
cooperative activities for scientific education and public understanding
of science in both countries.
Second, ICTP has enjoyed a long track record of success in forging
cooperative programmes with scientists from the developing world
and, as a result, has earned a good deal of trust and support
from both individual researchers and institutions in the South.
That trust and support was also on display at the meeting in Tunisia,
most notably in a presentation by Zohra Ben Lakhdar, professor
of physics at the University of Tunis and co-coordinator of the
ICTP-supported Northern African Network on Spectroscopy (NANS).
Lakhdar shares her 'network' responsibilities with Yosr Gamal,
a physicist at Cairo University's National Institute of Laser
Enhanced Sciences. NANS has proven instrumental in improving the
state of physics, and more specifically of spectroscopy, throughout
Africa. Algeria, for example, has joined NANS, and Cameroon and
Senegal have sent scientists to Tunisia for training and research
in programmes supported by ICTP.
Third, the presence of President Ciampi and the probing questions
he asked about the future of the Trieste System indicate that
the Italian government will remain a strong ally of science in
the developing world and that Trieste will continue to be a focal
point of its efforts to promote scientific and technical skills
throughout the South. President Ciampi's emphasis on results--people
trained, knowledge transferred, and science utilised to address
local, regional and national needs--conforms to the historic mission
of the Trieste System and is likely to serve as a valuable framework
for progress in the future.
And fourth, global events since last September show that there
has never been a more important time in recent history for supporting
efforts to promote North-South cooperation in ways that prove
fruitful to the entire global community. Science, with its emphasis
on international exchange and universal knowledge, will likely
be one of the underlying elements of such endeavors.
The Trieste System, which is now approaching its fourth decade
of institutional life, is likely to remain a key player in these
efforts. The meeting in Tunisia offers one more example of how.
Gallieno Denardo
ICTP Office of External Activities