The Closing of Petra Conference II of Nobel Laureates
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Alexandria — Petra, Jordon hosted on 22 June 2006 the closing of the Petra Conference II of Nobel Laureates, attended by senior figures in culture, science, and art. King Abdullah II of Jordon inaugurated the conference. Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria, along with a group of scholars and Nobel Laureates, participated in the conference. The conference sessions included a talk by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert on the future of the peace process in the Middle East.
The conference- co-hosted by Elie Wiesel- discussed several themes namely: poverty, economic empowerment, health, education, and non-proliferation. Committees were set-up to follow-up on each of the conference’s themes. In the education committee, moderated by Jeff Greenfield, Dr. Serageldin presented a paper entitled Education for Peace. Participants agreed on establishing a network of researchers from research institutes and knowledge centers in the developing world on one hand and Nobel Laureates on the other hand in education, energy, water, and environment. The recommendations of the committee included focusing on teaching science and mathematics in schools to promote critical thinking in the young generations.
In the health committee, participants called for developing vaccines and ensuring it reaching targeted groups. The committee also recommended providing priority to preventive medicine over curative medicine especially in carcinogenic diseases, referring to the importance of creating an infrastructure for vaccination in poor countries. The committee emphasized the need for information technology in compiling data on diseases and patients to create a database to assist fighting different diseases. Partnership between public and private sectors should be encouraged to reduce the cost of treating malaria, killing millions in Africa, following the steps of Bill Gates in combating disease in Asia and Africa.
In the poverty and economic empowerment committee, moderated by Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Sathirathai Surakiart, stated that more than half the world population live on less than two dollars daily, one-third of which are Africans. A matter that shakes the global stability and hinders the achievement of the developmental goals for the third millennium adopted by world leaders in 2000 at the UN General Assembly. The participants called for setting-up a committee comprising Nobel Laureates and world leaders to follow-up on the implementation of the sustainable development goals. The committee will seek to promote partnerships among scientific, public and private institutions, as well as establishing a fund to alleviate poverty in the world. The economic empowerment committee adopted the self-aid principal; the state aids itself in alleviating poverty, along with establishing partnerships among developing countries, and between the developed countries of the North and the developing countries of the South. The committee also referred to the crucial role of women in fighting poverty, and the importance of improving the livelihood of the poor, providing them with job opportunities through micro project finance. Participants called for forwarding the grants directly to poor societies rather than to governments.
Concerning the non-proliferation, the committee members referred to the non-effectiveness of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in facing the threats of uncommitted countries. They called on countries endorsing peaceful nuclear energy projects to find a way to obtain trustworthy supplies of fuel to satisfy their need from nuclear energy rather than establishing facilities for uranium fertilization. The committee recommended supervising the negotiations between Islamic Republic of Iran and the Security Council to ensure that the Iranian nuclear projects are for peaceful means only.