Summer School Diary - Day Three

Written by Tareq Helou

The day started with a lecture by Adriana Banozic, Senior Policy Expert at the Future Resilient System (FRS) of the Singapore ETH Centre on Science and Technology, on the goals and efforts for the ASEAN countries in science and technology. It was interesting to see the developments in the ASEAN countries being cited again, and more so the steps for cooperation with the European Union. She shared her experience. Not only that, she also delved in other projects the EU has with Asian counterparts in various fields of S&T, most specially Singapore where she is based. Moreover, a series of projects and cooperation efforts were talked about, the most prominent of which being the Future Earth – Asia initiative.

After lunch we had a lecture by Karen E. Smith, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics. The main topic was the interaction of European countries, with special emphasis on the UK, and the broader UN community in the United Nations Security Council. She shared a very interesting development of the procedures and realpolitik that take place inside the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council and how important it is to preserve the conciseness of the European Union in the face of the emerging multilateralism of today.

The last presenter for the day was Holger Osterrieder, Adjunct Professor of the VUB and Coordinator at the German Foreign Office. It was a very engaging retelling of his experience as a diplomat and peacemaker in the challenges of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The case in question was the Malian Civil War has been raging since 2012. We had great insights on how difficult bringing peace can be and how even small details can play such a big part in striking an agreement.

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