UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany visits ICTP

The new Director-General of UNESCO, Khaled El-Enany, paid an official visit to ICTP in the afternoon of Monday 8 June. During his visit, Dr. El-Enany met ICTP's scientific community, as well as staff from three UNESCO programmes based in Trieste: The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP).

Coming just a few months after his appointment, El-Enany’s visit highlights the role that science plays in his vision for the future of UNESCO. In a world where development is driven by scientific and technological advancements, UNESCO’s efforts to accelerate scientific progress and ensure that knowledge benefits everyone through open science and inclusive opportunities perfectly align with ICTP’s mission.

This marks the first time since 2014 that a UNESCO Director-General has visited ICTP and the Trieste UNESCO institutes. The visit underscores ICTP’s unique role in narrowing the knowledge and capacity gap in science between the global North and South and in promoting international cooperation through science. At a time of fast technological development that risks widening the global scientific and digital divide, ICTP’s mission at the intersection of research excellence, inclusion and international cooperation remains paramount to tackling global challenges.

The visit was an occasion for El-Enany to get a glimpse of the scientific ecosystem of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region and to discuss ways to enhance the synergies and strengthen the collaboration between the organisations supported by UNESCO and the other scientific institutions based in Trieste. The event is also significant as this year marks the 30th anniversary of the tripartite agreement between UNESCO, the Italian Government, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which established ICTP’s current governance structure.

"Sciences are at the heart of every society and vital for tacking the challenges the world faces today – this is why scientific progress must benefit everyone. For decades, ICTP and the UNESCO science programmes in Trieste – TWAS, OWSD, and IAP, as well as the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) based in Perugia – have stood for open and inclusive science, bringing together talented researchers from every region, especially developing countries, to pursue and produce knowledge and to cooperate beyond borders. That is how we advance the Sustainable Development Goals: by putting science at the service of people," said El-Enany.

“It is a great honour for ICTP to welcome Dr. El-Enany to our campus. This visit highlights the importance that the new UNESCO Director General attaches to our Centre and to Science. It reaffirms ICTP’s position as a key pillar of UNESCO’s Science sector.  There are new opportunities and challenges at the frontiers of science: from Artificial Intelligence to Climate Change or  Quantum Science. The role of a unique scientific organization like ICTP is even more important today for capacity building in these critical areas of relevance to all UNESCO Member States.  There are new possibilities to build upon the existing strengths and to enhance the synergies among all Trieste Institutes. ICTP looks forward to contributing to the vision of the Director General for UNESCO in the coming years towards the shared mission to make science open, inclusive and  accessible to all, and  to promote international cooperation for and through Science,” said ICTP Director Atish Dabholkar.