Libyan newspaper urges authorities to set up Science Cities to ensure technology transfer and development
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The importance of creating science cities in Libya is no longer in question, according to the Libyan newspaper, Alsabaah, which points out that this type of project accelerates the transfer of expertise, experience and the results of scientific research into competitive products that support national economic growth.
It also contributes to sustainable development programmes and offer new employment opportunities for young graduates, the newspaper said, while deploring the fact that a government decision in 2021 to create a "City of Science and Technology" had remained a dead letter.
Under the headline "Spreading the culture of science in an era of political prestidigitation", the Tripoli-based newspaper Alsabaah, under the headline "Spreading the culture of science in an era of political presumptuousness", the Tripoli-based Alsabaah recalled the importance of creating science cities in the country.
It proposed the headquarters of the General Tobacco Company in the Ghout Chaal district of Tripoli, located on the second ring road known as the "motorway", on which a wall is being built for ulterior motives, despite the fact that this vast strategic location is suitable for housing the headquarters of the promised "City of Science".
The newspaper wondered what had become of the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Government of National Unity in October 2021 to create a scientific and technological institution called the "City of Science and Technology", which would have legal personality and independent financial responsibility.
It is to be placed under the supervision of the Libyan Scientific Research Authority, with its headquarters in the municipality of Al-Souwani Ben Adam in Tripoli.
It, however, feared that it would suffer the same fate as many other decisions, which would remain in drawers.
Alsabaah pointed out that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had taken the view that "the production of knowledge and information through science is a means of helping us to find solutions to the major economic, social and environmental challenges facing us today, and a means of enabling us to achieve sustainable development and build more environmentally-friendly societies".
Since no country can achieve sustainable development on its own, said the newspaper, international cooperation in science plays an important role in promoting scientific knowledge and building peace.
The newspaper reported that UNESCO helps countries invest in science, technology and innovation, develop national science policies, reform science systems and build capacity to monitor and evaluate performance on the basis of indicators and statistics on science, technology and innovation that take into account the wide range of specific characteristics of each country.
Alsabaaah wondered where Libya's representatives in this international organization are to ask for such support, especially as UNESCO has given the country a great deal of support since its independence, especially as Libya financed the huge worldwide encyclopaedia project to write the general history of Africa, which has been published in eight volumes and translated into many languages.
Justifying the mention of this important subject, the newspaper indicated that it was inspired by the inauguration by the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, of the Cité des Métiers et des Compétences (CMC) in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region, at Tamesna near Skhirat, which is part of an overall programme under which 12 CMCs will be built in the various regions of Morocco.
The total investment is estimated at 4.4 billion dirhams, reflecting the special interest that the Moroccan monarch attaches to the vocational training sector as a strategic lever for improving economic competitiveness and a promising avenue for the professional integration of young people.
The Libyan newspaper reported that the Cité des nouveaux métiers et compétences in Morocco brings together six sectoral centres dedicated to the acquisition of professional skills, with six integrated application platforms, for immersive training based on "learning by doing", allowing complex situations close to the reality of the business world to be put into practice throughout the learning process.
According to the newspaper, the construction of science cities in all regions of Libya, particularly in the major cities of Tripoli, Benghazi and Sebha, as a first step, will speed up the transfer of expertise, experience and the results of scientific research into competitive products that support national economic growth.
It will also contribute to sustainable development programmes and offer new employment opportunities to new graduates and support newly-created businesses by creating partnerships based on innovation and continuity.
The newspaper reaffirmed that spreading the culture of creating science cities in Libya will prevent the country from resorting to many improvised and perhaps enthusiastic measures that could take us back to the Middle Ages.
In this connection, Alsabaah cited as an example the establishment of the "Guardians of Virtue" and House of Representatives (Parliament), which at the height of the continuing political division and the intensification of the struggle for power.
-0- PANA BY/IS/BBA/RA 23June2023
