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Mkapa attends Nobel Laureates' conference
2005-05-19 08:26:51
By Correspondent Freddy Maro, Petra City, Jordan
President Benjamin Mkapa and First Lady Mama Anna Mkapa yesterday attended the official opening of the Petra conference of Nobel Laureates here, which was officiated by King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Addressing hundreds of invited guests, King Abdullah II challenged the Nobel Prize winners who have gathered to come up with new insights that will meet the expectations of the young people by providing them with greater freedom and opportunities.
Young people are tomorrow’s citizens, teachers and Nobel Laureates and they should not accept empty words and promises, he said.
The youth want to make a difference and share the fruits of modern knowledge to create a positive and generous future in which they and all people live in freedom and respect, he said.
The King said the youths have no memory of a time without regional conflict and that they see a huge global gap between the rich and poor adding that they also see diseases that wealthy nations have wiped out that are still crippling people in the developing world.
“The young people see the harm and hope brought by globalization. It is up to us to give them the tools they need. And we must make a beginning now — a taste of success — that helps people see they can succeed.
To create more freedom and opportunity, so people can fulfill their potential. To build peace, so people can move forward with confidence, he said,” he said.
The King said it has never been more important to reach out to seek new understanding and work together for a new and better reality.
On the Middle East Peace initiative, King Abdullah said the challenge is to help the people of Israel and Palestine to believe in a future of peace, despite the forces of violence, adding that the basic goals are shared by both sides namely, justice for the Palestinians and security for the Israelis.
In his opening remarks, Elie Wiesel, the co-host of the conference and the founder of Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, said there was an urgent need to reassess the role of education in the various societies so as to bring desired change and build a better world.
He further said that, presently, most people in the world, more than ever, are plagued by the scourge of fanaticism and hatred insisting that people must be made to understand that, while war is always an expression of despair, peace involves an act of faith.
The Minister in the President’s office, Good Governance, Wilson Masilingi, Assistant Personal Secretary to the President Ambassador Peter Kallaghe, and the Chief of Protocol Ambassador, Cisco Mtiro, accompanied President Mkapa.
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