UNESCO Director-General 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.