Rwanda National Police

Ensuring that all Rwandans have a “scientific mindset” will make them more effective workers and better citizens. This was said by President Paul Kagame while speaking at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy.

Addressing over 250 luminaries including Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, Nobel Laureates David Gross and Carlo Rubbia and the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Ansar Parvez, Kagame reiterated the value of science in Rwanda’s development agenda.

“The values that animate scientific inquiry are the same as those that animate our struggle in Rwanda. In Rwanda we put science at the centre of our national development strategy starting from 1997,” Kagame said.

“Rwanda’s tragic history had nearly robbed us of dignity and the work of national renewal sought to restore it. We now share the values of reason, truth and a hunger for practical results”.

Kagame commended the strong support from key partners involved in funding scientific initiatives in Rwanda, adding that the establishment of ICTP’s regional centre in Rwanda is of great practical and symbolic importance.

“The strong support, over decades, from the Italian Government and key UN agencies must be acknowledged. Securing long-term funding for these initiatives was, and remains, a challenge,” he said.

“I applaud a new research programme recently inaugurated at ICTP on energy and sustainability. ICTP has maintained a research agenda that prioritises topics of relevance outside the industrialised nations.”

The four day event celebrates 50 years of ITCP’s success in international scientific cooperation and the promotion of scientific excellence in the developing world.

ICTP was founded in 1964 by the late Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam, with a goal to provide education and scientific skills to developing countries.

The institute is expected to open its East African regional base in Rwanda, mandated to offer education, training and research at postgraduate level in physics and mathematics.

Source: The newtimes