The President of the Confederation does not want an exclusion of Russian scientists. According to Ignazio Cassis, the Geneva Anticipator on Science and Diplomacy (GESDA) brings together and “will be the main theme of the next decade in international Geneva”.
“No war has ever succeeded in stopping scientific research,” the president told the press in Geneva on Friday, at the end of the second summit of this initiative led by Switzerland. “Scientists have a common language,” he says.
Switzerland is not the only country for which the dialogue on research is difficult with the EU. The collaboration of the 27 members with Moscow was diminished on this issue after the Russian offensive.
On Friday, Mr. Cassis was surrounded, in Geneva or remotely, by ministers or vice-ministers from five states from different regions. As in almost all international meetings today, the war in Ukraine was discussed.
Recalling that his country was under Russian threat, the head of Estonian diplomacy Urmas Reinsalu opposed too close a dialogue with the scientists of this country. Even though these are financed by public authorities which use science “in the aggression against Ukraine”.
Against some “groups of oligarchs”
“We cannot be sure that technologies that we have launched for peaceful reasons will not be used” in war, said the minister. On Wednesday, GESDA President Peter Brabeck-Letmathe himself said that the platform could not be useful in a conflict like the one in Ukraine, “while no political will” not to use science as a “weapon” n is observed.
For the President of the Confederation, the Anticipator must bring people together. We “have to be careful” when questioning the usefulness of a dialogue with Russian scientists. Especially since Mr. Cassis considers the exclusion of divergent voices to be a mistake of recent decades. The GESDA radar, which attempts to anticipate scientific advances over 5, 10 and 25 years for human beings, society or even the climate, is fed by hundreds of scientists from dozens of countries.
In his speech to the nearly 1,500 participants at this three-day hybrid summit, the President of the Confederation felt that the link between science and diplomacy should be at the center of international Geneva in the next decade. And even “the main theme”, according to him.
He recalled his desire to make GESDA a tool for the “common good” which would make it possible to avoid the usual confrontations of negotiations between States. And that it ensures that scientific advances are not in the hands of a few “groups of oligarchs”.
Thanks to GESDA, solutions “can be refined”, according to the President of the Confederation. The Anticipator should be a “tool” for decision-makers to “reinvigorate multilateralism” and so that they can then discuss the application of mechanisms.
Situation “explosive” en Europe
The diplomatic response to the combination of scientific and technological advances must be accelerated, he said. It must be done by anticipating, before problems arise, adds the President of the Confederation.
On Wednesday, the GESDA had notably proposed the launch of an Open Quantum Institute (OQI) within 5 years at the latest in Geneva to guarantee that quantum technologies can benefit everyone. In Friday’s discussion with ministers, a proposal was floated by one of the participants for an international agreement to avoid the ‘weaponisation’ of these technologies.
“We are open to everything, but it is too early,” said Mr. Cassis. He is waiting to see what GESDA stakeholders will say. Bern and the Geneva authorities have recently extended financial support to the Anticipateur for ten years.
This “is very useful” currently in the face of the “urgency of the challenges” and “the rapidity of the changes” with which the international community is confronted, insisted Mr. Cassis. We must remain “optimistic” for the next few years despite Afghanistan, Syria, the war in Ukraine and an “explosive security situation” in Europe, according to the president.
This article has been published automatically. Source: ats