On Wednesday, April 17th 2019, The Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs (ECFA) hosted a lecture on “the Effects of Technological Progress on International Policy and the Balance of Power”. The lecture was delivered by His Excellency Ambassador Mohammed Al-Shazly and was opened by His Excellency Ambassador/ Dr. Mounir Zahran, Chairman of the council. An elite group of diplomats and those concerned with the subject matter attended this lecture. His Excellency, Ambassador/ Dr. Ezzat Saad, Director of the council, and Their Excellencies Ambassadors/ Gamal Al-Din Bayoumi, Kamal Abou-Aqil, Yousssef Al-Sharkawy, Mohamed Al-Ashmawy, and Mohamed Tawfiq, were among the attendants.
Ambassador Al-Shazly pointed out that he prepared the topic of this lecture based on his firm conviction that we live in an age governed by science and culture; that developments in this field during the recent years indicate radical changes in the elements of power governing the world and tremendous changes in the production method and balance of power governing international relations. His Excellency reviewed how, since the dawn of history, states that were relatively, technologically developed, had the upper hand, as compared to their counterparts, in the wars they had fought against other countries. And so he pointed out that the fields that currently must be paid attention to; which are expected to change World map with its policies and equilibriums in the near as well as in the long-term future, are limited to the following: Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Nanotechnology, Space Research, Nuclear Fusion Technology, Applications of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and The Scientific Research Stations in Antarctica.
Concluding the lecture, Ambassador Al- Shazly recommended the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs (ECFA) to follow up scientific developments having influence over aspects of national security and economy. This can be achieved by hosting scientific figures who are specialists in such matters in order to have cognizance of their vision, intensifying contacts in this regard with the scientific and academic bodies, analyzing these developments and transferring them to the concerned authorities in order to alert them to their impact and significance, and making the council function as a lobby for scientific research; to draw attention to the importance of increasing scientific research spending and the significance of Egypt’s participation in the international scientific field. In a related context he pointed out to the need to work for the intensification of communication with audio-visual, print, and electronic media and to interact with them in order to emphasize the significance of following up the ongoing scientific developments to establish a public opinion interested in scientific research and appreciating its significance at a time when scientific media in Egypt is almost absent.
