Nobel Prize Winner Opens Sessions at University Event

Havana, Feb 14. – The 1980 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, from Argentina, will open the scientific sessions of the 8th University 2012 Congress, to be run until February 17 in the Cuban capital.

Peace and sustainable development will be the issues Perez Esquivel will analyze in the Havana forum, attended by nearly 3,000 delegates from 55 countries, after an absence for over a decade due to works in other parts of the world, he said.

Other events in the scentific program include 13 workshops, at which participants will debate over 2,400 papers, organizers informed.

Cuban Higher Education Minister Miguel Diaz-Canel stated on Monday that universities should contribute to preserving the planet and preventing it from being destroyed irresponsibly.

It is necessary to turn today's society into a fairer, free and equal society, which will make people happier and a more habitable planet, said Adelaida de la Calle, president of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities.

The president of the National Council of Nicaraguan Universities, Telemaco Talavera, defended education as a main human right and an indispensable factor for human development and against mercantilism of that social service.

An exhibition on the main scientific-technical results of teaching in Cuba, including exhibitors from Mexico, Italy, Venezuela, France, China and Panama, was inaugurated parallel to the congress.

Brazilian religious and social activist Frei Betto, ministers from 18 countries and the deputy general director of Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Qian Tang, from China, are also attending the university event.(Prensa Latina)