The Bibliotheca Alexandrina has witnessed the inauguration of the activities of the Egypt-Italy Science Year at the hand of the Egyptian Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research Hany Helal, the deputy to the Italian Minister of Education Giuseppe Pizza, and Italy’s ambassaor to Cairo Claudio Pacifico.
Dr Helal said that a number of seminars and workshops on different scientific topics such as space and earth will take place all through 2009 in various Egyptian governorates in order to support scientific and research cooperation between Egyptian and Italian scientists. On his part Mr Pacifico stressed the strong relations between Egypt and Italy especially on the political, economic and cultural levels, announcing that plans are ongoing to establish an Egyptian Italian science and technology university. According to Dr Pizza, Italy has already invited Egypt to join in the G8 meetings concerned with science and technology.
On the sideline of the inauguration ceremony an exhibition on “Pictures from the nano world” was held, free of charge for the public, at the Alexandria Conference Centre. The exhibition runs till 27 January and will tour Upper Egypt next April and May. In October a celebration, accompanied by a photo exhibition, is scheduled to be held in honour of the Italian inventor Marconi.