Honorable Prime Minister Dr. Lawrence Gonzi Honorable Dr. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando Monsieur lʼambassadeur de France, Ladies and Gentlemen Dear Friends At the start of our 6 th Sharing Knowledge Conference, permit me to summarize some of our goals and first accomplishments and how they relate to the present situation in some Arab Countries. Science for Peace is an idea that was at the core of the creation of CERN half a century ago. Many of you donʼt know that during the Cold War, CERN was one of the few places in the worlds where scientists from America, the Soviet Union and China could meet and discuss freely with their European colleagues despite their political, ideological or religious differences. More recently, to respond to the challenge of a North-South divide, CERN has opened its experimental program to Non Member States belonging in particular to the Arab and Muslim world, such as Morocco, Iran, Pakistan and we will see during this conference what a striking success this has become. In 2004, for the 50 th anniversary of CERN, I proposed extending that North-South dialogue to matters going beyond fundamental science and responding to the basic needs of development such as Water, Food, Energy or Fighting the digital divide. The success of that first event led to a series of subsequent meetings in Casablanca, Trieste, Chania, Amman, and to the creation in 2006 of a dedicated Sharing Knowledge Foundation. The basis of that Foundation rests on 3 beliefs: 1) Science is a universal language, belonging to all, irrespective of their political, philosophical or religious beliefs. 2) The contemporary development of science mandates worldwide collaborations to cope with challenges which have themselves become global and demanding an ever more costly mobilization of resources. 3) Scientific progress cannot indefinitely only be borne by developed countries. Therefore, partnerships should be set-up, so that, with time, less advanced countries can build up their role in the creation of world knowledge.
We work for a dialogue between scientists and engineers from Europe and those coming from the East or South of the Mediterranean Sea. The goal of our meetings is to build partnerships for concrete projects aiming at a sustainable development. Later today, you will hear concrete possibilities for solving the contentious question of Water in the troubled Middle East region. Another development came out of our advocacy about Internet for African Science. We were instrumental,in obtaining from the European Commission in 2008, the linking of the European Network GEANT with the African Research and Education Networks. You will hear to-morrow the three leaders of the Academic Networks grouping the whole African continent (Ubuntu-Net for East and South Africa, WACREN for West African States and ASREN the newly created network for Arab States). Capacity building is vital for all developing countries. Scientific diasporas can play an important role in that matter, whether students come back home immediately after their thesis or stay abroad for a longer part of their career before bringing to their country the benefit of their experience and connections. We have set-up a collaboration with CERN and the Hassan II Academy, allowing Moroccan doctoral students to complete their PhD work in Geneva. What we had started in the way of a dialogue among educated scientific elites (economic development, the dignity of partnerships as opposed to simple assistance) has now taken a new dimensions with thousands of peoples in the streets demanding a better life and freedom from oppressive governments. Our action never took any position on purely political questions because we believe this is not our area of expertise. Needless to say, we wish the Arab peoples the best of successes in their revolutions. But we believe economic progress is a long term process and the best service we can deliver is to continue our action for helping the build-up of a progressive Civil Society in their midst. We hope the present conference will be a step in that direction. To conclude I would like to thank our hosts in Malta and also all of our sponsors which have made that event possible. Cnrs, cea, AREVA CERN EADS CNAM TOTAL and AIR MALTA Thank you for your attention and I wish you a very fruitful meeting.
Welcome to Sharing Knowledge 6 Villa Bighi, Malta 5 May 2011 1
The idea of Science for Peace was at the origin of CERN During the cold war, CERN was one of the few places where European scientists could meet with Americans, Soviet and Chinese counterparts. Discussing physics collaboration, but also political messages... In the last 10 years, CERN has opened its programme to Non-Member States, such as Morocco, Iran, Pakistan (and India), Cyprus (and Turkey) In 2004, for the 50th anniversary, I proposed Sharing Knowledge to extend the North-South dialogue to matters other than that of fundamental science: Energy, Water, Food, Digital Divide, Natural and Man-made Catastrophies etc.. 2
Sharing Knowledge meetings The success of our 2004 meeting led to a succession of meetings in Casablanca, Trieste, Chania, Amman. And in 2006 to the creation of a dedicated Sharing Knowledge Foundation 3
Foundation: what we believe.. Science is a universal language, common to all, irrespective of their political, philosophical or religious beliefs. The development of science now mandates worldwide collaborations to cope with challenges which have themselves become worldwide and also demand an ever more costly mobilisation of resources. Scientific progress cannot indefinitely be borne only by developed countries. Partnerships should be set-up so that, in time, less advanced countries can build up their roles in the increase of world knowledge. 4
The Foundation: How we operate Our goal is to set-up a dialogue between scientists and engineers from Europe and from Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries,thus contributing to building-up partnerships on concrete projects for sustainable development. You will hear to-morrow a report on concrete possibilities for solving the contentious question of Water in the Middle East. Internet for Africa: We were instrumental in obtaining in 2008 a decision to link the European Academic Network GEANT and the African Research and Education Networks. We welcome at this conference the three leaders of the networks grouping the whole African continent Scientific Diasporas play an important role in capacity building. We have setup a collaboration with CERN and the Hassan II Academy, allowing Moroccan doctoral students to complete their PhD work in Geneva. 5
The revolutions in the Arab World We started a dialogue among members of a scientific elite, aiming at partnerships for development A whole new dimension is now introduced by thousands in the streets demanding a better life and freedom from oppression. We have never taken explicit political positions as we feel these are outside our competence. Obviously, we wish the best of succes to the Arab Peoples for their revolutions in order to satisfy their aspirations. Economic progress takes time. We believe the best service we can deliver is to continue our action and help the build-up of a Progressive Civil Society in their midst. The present conference aims to be a step in that direction. 6
I thank the MCST, our Malta Host and our Academic and Corporate Sponsors for having made this event possible. 7