The fifth meeting of the United Nations Scientific Advisory Board (UN SAB), established by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to boost awareness on the ties between scientific research and sustainable development, is under way in Trieste on 24 and 25 May
The meeting, which is being held in Italy for the first time, has convened the 25 eminent scientists sitting on the Board, including Fabiola Gianotti, a world-renowned Italian physicist and the Director of Geneva’s CERN. Present at the meeting in representation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is the Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, Enzo De Luca.
For the first time Italy hosts the meeting of the UN Scientific Advisory Board (UN SAB) in the city of Trieste so that the experience of Trieste’s Science District, which concentrates the excellence of the Italian and international science sector in addition to making high value-added investments in training and innovation, might constitute a point of reference for the Global Development Agenda and for the struggle against climate change,” Mr De Luca said. He added: “Being among the first to have understood the fundamental role played by advanced training, scientific research and technological innovation in sustainable development and in narrowing inequalities is a true reason for pride for our Country.”
The Board forms part of the United Nations’ strategy to use science as the means by which to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to incorporate scientific progress in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The Agenda puts into the perspective of sustainable growth the commitments that all Countries will be obliged to undertake by 2030 to eradicate poverty and is based on the transfer of technology to Developing Countries, in line with the conclusions of the Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa in 2015.
Italy and UNESCO have long cooperated to promote scientific research in Developing Countries. In order to highlight this partnership, we decided to hold the meeting in Trieste, a city that hosts an international pole of scientific excellence, open to the scientists of Developing Countries and focused on the dissemination of science, technology and innovation.
The costs of the meeting will be financed by the Trieste-based International Organisations (Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics-ICTP; The World Academy of Sciences-TWAS; International Centre for Genetic Engineering-ICGEB; Inter Academy Partnership-IAP) that are the beneficiaries of funds from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, University and Research and the National Research Council (CNR).
The 2016 meeting will wind up the UN SAB and its results will be presented to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in September, at the close of his term in office.
