Baku
International
Humanitarian Forum

Summary of speeches by participants of the plenary session

IV Baku International Humanitarian Forum proceeded with plenary session after official opening ceremony on October 2.

Azad RAHIMOV, Minister of Youth and Sport of Azerbaijan was chairing the first part of the session which was attended by former presidents. He spoke about the measures taken towards the development of humanitarian field in the country during the years of independence. The Minister also mentioned that multicultural dialogue platform had already been established in Azerbaijan.

Arnold RÜÜTEL, former President of Estonia touched upon existing ecological problems in the world, emphasized the concern caused by the reduction of flora and fauna species. He also said that in recent years the number of poor countries in the world was increasing and that led to serious problems such as social inequality. Arnold Rüütel talked about actions implemented for achieving ecological balance and contributions made to global cultural diversity.

Stjepan MESIC, former President of Croatia spoke about the issue of restoring faith among nations. He added that terrorism actions occurring in the international community were unacceptable and restoration of relations based on faith became necessity. Stjepan Mesic condemned cases of violence and supported peaceful solutions of controversial issues.

Valdis ZATLERS, former President of Latvia drew attention to the achievement of goals defined in the previous Forum. As to him the ground of tension in the world is not a religion but other reasons and he added that wars were threat for peace. From this aspect, the guest emphasized the importance of peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabagh conflict.

Vytautas LANDSBERGIS, former President of Lithuania highlighted the peace –as a basic idea of Baku Humanitarian Forum and said that although Azerbaijan faced fact of invasion, it still demonstrated ideas of establishing stable state.

Enrico LETTA, former President of the Council of Ministers of Italy talked about development of relations between countries and importance of Forum. Mentioning the relationships of EU with South Caucasian region Enrico Letto expressed his opinion that economic and social cooperation with Azerbaijan should be expanded. He expressed his certainty about holding the first European Games in high level in our country and said: “We are very delighted that Azerbaijan takes parts in European partnership.”

Sheikha Fariha Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al SABAH, President of the Kuwait Association for the Ideal Family noted that our country was in the center of attention of the world experiencing crisis and the formula of gaining accomplishments in such a world was being observed in Azerbaijan.

Hadil Fontes da Rocha VIANNA, Vice Minister for Cooperation, Culture and Trade Promotion, Ministry of External Relations of Brazil, expressed his gratitude for the invitation to the Forum. Vice Minister spoke about the work carried out in the field of cultural diversity and accentuated the essence of cultural pluralism for each country.

Gabriela CUEVAS, Senator, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate, touching upon the importance of debated issues stated that world union should strive for solution of existing conflicts through negotiations; norms and principles of international law should be preserved.  He particularly noted the necessity of unifying efforts against terrorism.

H.E. Mr. Mohamed Sameh AMR, Chairperson of the Executive Board of UNESCO,  expressed his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for the high-level organization of Forum. He mentioned that UNESCO had pursued ideas of humanism since its establishment and appreciated maintenance of world cultural diversity as a profound criterion. He emphasized that aims of Baku Forum overlapped with those of UNESCO.

Akif ALIZADE, Academician and President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences was chairing the 2^nd part of the session and said that it was a great platform in terms of bringing well-known scientists, politicians from all parts of the world together.

Erwin NEHER, Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology and Medicine noted that by accomplishing profound achievements in the fields of chemistry, biotechnology, and physiology in recent years great results were obtained towards the elimination of regenerative diseases. He emphasized that serious researches were conducted during last decade and China, USA, and Japan held enormous projects associated with the investigation of human brain.

Rudolph Arthur MARCUS, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry drew attention to the fact that because of inequality in welfare of people in the world our modern community suffered from different adversities. He added that for eliminating this problem, great projects in the field of science, education, and medicine should be carried out in relatively less developed countries.

Kary Banks MULLİS, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry said that precluding diseases, problems in the modern world was critical issue for scientists. He also mentioned that remaining of environmental problems, wars, hatred among people, violence and other crimes led world to the catastrophe gradually.

Rudolf Martin ZİNKERNAGEL, Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine stated that human physiology should be learned deeply for perceiving problems occurring in the world. From this viewpoint, qualified primary education, educating young and well-educated teachers is intensely essential. It is overall necessary for the protection of human life.

Robert Betts LAUGHLIN, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics said that in our modern world computer technology prevailed over physical human features. He stressed that it was already time to contemplate about hazards of electronic revolution.

Kurt WÜTHRICH, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry expressed his proud to speak at the beautiful architectural monument Heyder Aliyev Center. He said that as a result of implementation of different scientific inventions of various centuries important achievements were obtained in the field of economy, medicine, technology, etc.

Finn KYDLAND, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics expressed his delight for being in Baku for the fourth time and spoke about the steps taken by the states to overcome crisis and its impacts. As to him world economic crisis made states encounter with the obligation of defining precise predictions related to economic development.

David Jonathan GROSS, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics stated that the problems that threaten humanity can only be resolved by joint efforts of the world community. Disputes should not be settled by force. History shows that all conflicts result in terrible human lost. The scientist mentioned that cases of chauvinism and violence have often been observed in recent years which cause big difficulties. We have to join our efforts to deal with such negative cases.

Theodor Wolfgang HÄNSCH, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics stressed that Azerbaijan attached great importance to humanitarian values. “I am glad that today we witness the transfer of “black gold” to human capital” – he said. He also mentioned about rapid development in the field of technology and appreciated the trends of scientific circles to direct their resources to this field.

George Fitzgerald SMOOT, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics said that we had to protect our planet both for ourselves and for future generations and should be aware of the impacts we had on environment.  Sustainable development pursued by the governments in economy should be provided in the field of environmental protection.

Mrs. Ada YONATH, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry expressed her gratitude for invitation to the Forum and hospitality she witnessed in our country. In her speech, she talked about human longevity and mentioned about successes gained against various diseases due to development of medicine. She also stressed that serious researches were being conducted towards the gradual change of genetic code.

Peter Arthur DIAMOND, Nobel Prize Winner in Economic Sciences talked about employment. He stated that job made person feel internal satisfaction along with causing income. He stressed the importance of diversification of the employments policies by the governments to defend economy against crises. P.Diamond evaluated the transfer of manpower from one field to another and the large number of competent people with leadership skills in each sector as an important factor in the solution of employment problem.

Thomas Christian SUDHOF, Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine appreciated contribution of multiculturalism to the development of science and stated that the role of science is to spread and promote human values. He stressed the importance of the roles of scohlars in pragmatic decision-making and  reasoning process, espaecially trust of policy makers in scientific circles.

Arieh WARSHEL, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry talked about positive impact of scientific achievement on society. The scientist pointed out that human life would be better due to significant scientific achievements.

Akif Alizade mentioned the establishment of the Institute of Biophysics attached to the ANAS and thanked George Fitzgerald Smoot, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics for his cooperation with our country in this field.

At the end of the plenary session, Akif Alizade appreciated the importance of the participation of the renowned scientists and Nobel Prize Winners in the Forum and their speeches in terms of significant contribution to Azerbaijan and world science.

In the third part of the session, the reports of the chairpersons of the “round tables” to be held in the VI Baku International Humanitarian Forum.

Chairperson Mikayil JABBAROV, Ministry of Education welcomed the guests and spoke about the importance of the Forum held in Baku for the fourth time. The Minister said that statements made both in the official part and plenary meeting of the Forum would constitute key topics of the “round tables” to be held on October 3. Speaking about important measures taken in the fields of science and education in our country in recent years Minister Mikayil Jabbarov stressed that substantial reforms had been carried out in this direction in Azerbaijan and state strategy on the development of education had been adopted in the previous year.

Antonio VILLARAIGOSA, Former Speaker of the California State Assembly, former Mayor of Los Angeles spoke about issues to be discussed in the round table “Comparative Research into Multiculturalism: from Theory to Humanitarian Practice” chaired by him. He emphasized that multiculturalism affected a great number of life processes and crisis appeared in this field caused very complicated problems. A. Villaraigosa stated that humanitarian issues, particularly those relating to multiculturalism were current issues of our time. Azerbaijan is a multinational, multicultural country. The positive atmosphere here is sought in many parts of world.

Mikhail GUSMAN, First Deputy Director General of ITAR- TASS Russia News Agency, chairperson of the round table “Media Transformation in the Digital Age: New Development Trends” in his speech stated that Azerbaijan was his native country and he felt very happy of being there: “I have attended the first Forum as well. The Forum has obviously improved and enriched thenceforth. I am sure that Baku International Humanitarian Forum will exceed Davos Economic Forum in future for its significance”. M. Gusman pointed out the issues to be discussed in the round table, including problems of the modern media, the role of mass media in the digital era, and some other current issues.

Eden MAMUT, Secretary General of the Black Sea Universities Network in Romania will chair the round table “The Role of Interdisciplinary Integration in Innovative Development”. He stressed the importance of the measures taken towards the development of modern science and expanding the educational opportunities all over the world. He mentioned that 21 reports of the specialists from various countries would be heard in the round table and a number of issues on the topic would be highlighted.

John LAWRENCE, Adjunct Professor of Columbia University informed about the issues to be discussed in the round table “Sustainable Development and Ecological Civilization” chaired by him. Speaking about the importance of the ecological civilization American scholar pointed out that human development index was very important in the modern world: “This index is in fact regarded very simple. Some countries, including Azerbaijan has changed its standards on the basis of this.

Hikmet KOÇAK, Rector of Ataturk University, Turkey, Professor stated that the round table “Challenges of Globalization: between Tradition and Transformation” to be chaired by him would deal with rather philosophical debates. He mentioned that the model of human being and society appeared in the process of globalization and every individual should contribute to the development of society.

Karol SIKORA, Chief Medical Officer of the Cancer Partners UK pointed out that the round table “Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in the 21^st Century: Theory, Practice, Prospects” would cover the recent achievements, future and problems of the medical science. He said that revolutionary breakthrough was being observed in technology. “If we can study the direction of movement of the molecules causing cancer, we will be able to diagnose at the initial stage”- he stated.

Ivan VIDENOVICH Program Management Officer, Department of Technical Cooperation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), chairperson of the round table “Converging Technologies and Outlines of the Future: Landmark Challenges of the 21^st Century” stated that development of educational sector was closely connected with that of communication and high information technologies. Approximately 60 representatives from 19 countries, including three Nobel Prize Winners would participate in our round table. “Azerbaijan is the country interested in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Azerbaijani scientists will touch upon this issue in their speeches”.

Walter SCHWIMMER, Former Secretary General of the Council of Europe emphasized that the round table “Humanism as a Basic Value in the Postmodern Era” chaired by him would be devoted to a very important and urgent topic. He stated that the round table would consider the increasing need for the shift of values in the postmodern era. “Azerbaijan also suffers from the long-standing conflict. Sustainable peace in the Caucasus is of the greatest importance for the region”.        

At the end of the session, Minister M. Jabbarov expressed his gratitude to the participants and wished them good luck.