Swiss foreign minister warns against global tensions over science

Cassis deplored the fact that scientific collaboration is being affected by "national interests" amid geopolitical tensions and conflicts. Keystone-SDA

Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis warned against risks posed by a world losing its bearings on the international political stage and its confidence in science. Cassis called for unity in the face of these challenges in a speech in Geneva on Wednesday night.

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Science must “bring people together” and not cause “divisions”, said the foreign minister on the first day of the Geneva Anticipator Summit on Science Diplomacy (GESDA). He added that future quantum computers, neuro-technologies and synthetic biology “are opening up new frontiers faster than politics can keep up.”

He deplored the fact that scientific collaboration is being affected by “national interests” at a time when conflicts are multiplying and tensions are rife between the world’s major powers. In the face of attacks on science, without naming US President Donald Trump, he called for a united front in the fight against disinformation and a preference for “evidence over ideology”.

Cassis said that Switzerland had been the first country to put GESDA and the link between scientific advances and peace on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. A follow-up meeting on quantum technology will be held in New York in December.

Bern has also placed science, along with water, energy and cyber security, at the centre of its chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) next year.

Cassis welcomed the new GESDA initiative on brain-computer interfaces as “a further step” towards making Geneva the centre of scientific diplomacy. The initiative is due to be formalised on Friday and will establish a coalition of foundations and global partnerships.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

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