President ECOSF Prof. Manzoor H. Soomro participates in AAAS-TWAS Course on "Science and Diplomacy" at Abdus Salam ICTP Trieste- Italy -8-13 June 2014

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Group photograph of TWAS-AAAS Science and Diplomacy Course 8-13 June, ICTP TRieste- Italy

The President ECO Science Foundation, Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro participated in a course on "Science and Diplomacy" held from 8-13 June at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. The course was organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). Other participant from Pakistan was Dr. Anwar Nasim, Secretary General of Pakistan Academy of Sciences. From other ECO member countries, only I.R. Iran was represented by Mr. Ali Morteza BIRANG from the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology. In all there were over 50 participants from around the world including the resource persons.

This short course was designed for scientists who interested in connecting their research to international policy making, policymakers interested in some of the central science based themes that might influence their work, research institution administrators, and research funders focused on identifying ways to build international networks.

Aim of the course was to expose participants to some key concepts on the interactions between the scientific and policy-making communities, and to some contemporary international policy issues relating to science, technology, environment and health, while providing an overview of how scientific/technical information has been contributing more and more to policy development and organizational changes worldwide. Another focus of the course was; a better understanding of and appreciation for the roles played by the governments, international organizations and the private sector in complex science-based issues; and how the different governance structures are developed to address the needs and involvement of different stakeholders. TWAS had invited policymakers, diplomats with science portfolio, as well as a number of young scientists from the developing world.

The course themes included; Mechanism of Science Diplomacy, Science Advice in a Foreign Ministry, NGOs and Science Diplomacy, Role of Science Academies and International Organizations, Linking Science to Development. Some case studies were also presented and discussed which included the "Cold War" period science diplomacy, International Space Station, PEER Program, CERN, ICTP and SESAME etc.; wherein the staunch opponent countries have joined together around the global science projects and programs. The resource persons included; Prof. Romain Murenzi Executive Director of TWAS, Dr. Mohammad Hassan of Inter-Academy Panel, Dr. Fernando Quevedo the Director ICTP, Dr. Vaughan Turekian, Mr. Norman Nureiter of AAAS, Dr. David Hilmers (former NASA Astronaut), Dr. Rachel Parker of USAID and a few others from Canada, Japan, Poland and USA.

The course proved to be very informative and a good opportunity to learn about the role of science in political diplomacy for a peaceful and prosperous world.