IN MESSAGE TO INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE CONFERENCE, SECRETARY-GENERAL EMPHASIZES ROLE OF SCIENCE AS CATALYST FOR DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
SG/SM/7053
IN MESSAGE TO INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE CONFERENCE, SECRETARY-GENERAL EMPHASIZES ROLE OF SCIENCE AS CATALYST FOR DEVELOPMENT
19990629 Following is the text of the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the International Science Conference, which is being held in Budapest from 26 June to 1 July:This international science conference, organized at the initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Science Council, comes at an opportune time. What better way to mark this symbolic year than to look back upon a century of remarkable scientific achievements, while also looking forward to a future full of promise, as well as challenges?
This conference is a call for renewed commitment. It is a call on the scientific community to keep in touch with society -- with its hopes, its needs and its fears. It is a call on governments and stakeholders to explore ways of better supporting science in all its forms.
As Secretary-General of the United Nations, I would like to emphasize the role of science as a catalyst for development. For developing countries to participate fully in the global economy and to achieve economic growth, they need the capacity to develop their own scientific potential and create their own tools for development.
That means investment in education, without which even the greatest talent cannot contribute to the cause of science. It means creating research facilities, without which even the most brilliant minds cannot advance the progress of science in their region, and for the benefit of their region.
And so, on behalf of the United Nations, I hope this conference will help generate new commitment -- in countries both developed and developing -- to science as a key to human progress. Let us strive to make science accessible to all, for the benefit of people everywhere in the twenty-first century.
* *** *