Hello to everyone from Barcelona .
The IUCN Congress is a great environmental event where you see the power of NGOs and scholars and scientists in the field of the environment. We missed the opening ceremony yesterday, since our plane arrived about 9.30 but we had a chance to see some of the exhibitions and pavillions on different topics. The dedication to the environment among these people is inspiring . I'm travelling with my son who ususally not had the chance to travel with me abroad when I was in the government but now he is with me. Our special guide or angel as she calls herself is Nicole. She is making the arrangements for us.
We met with Dr. Tucker this morning , she is a Professor at Harvard University and along with her husband Professor Grim they lead a center working on world religions and the environment. She and Professor Grim were our guests in Iran when we held the International Conference on Environment Religion, and Culture in 2001. They have done alot of excellent work in that area. We discussed many different issues including how women have to make a balance between work and family .
I also met with Dr. Achim Steiner the current UNEP Executive Director . We spoke about how the November 6 event which is being held every year by the Center for Peace and Environment, could bu up graded to include experts from the international community. November 6 is the international day for Prevention of the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Dr. Steiner was very positive on that matter, he also proposed a collaboration with the Tehran City Council Environment Committee.
I also attended a High Level session on a ship hosted by Prince Turki Ibn Naser , The President of Metereology and Environment of Saudi Arabia. I met many people some who I knew before but also the new Iraqi Minister of Environment she was of Kurd origin and had lived previously in Iran . There were some speeches done on the Marine Environment and Dr. Vali Moosa the IUCN President spoke about the importance of international seas and how they are being exploited.
Bravo Khatami!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.yazdonline.com/NewsDetail.aspx?nid=906
I smell Change! I smell HOPE! I smell real REFORM in Iran!
Go Reformists Go!
Dear Dr. Ebtekar, how old is your son? Did you work when he was a baby?
ReplyDeletethank you, Sofia
I have checking your blogs for my comments but they are no where to find. At first I was upset but now I realize that you have not posted any comments from anyone else either in the last few days.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting our comments before them (mullahs) got to you. You where walking a fine line and we appreciate your effort. Best of luck to you and others who at least try to fight for any kind of Freedom.
i don't know where u r dr. ebtekar? but i finally took it upon myself to tell Charlie Rose about this event!
ReplyDeletei hope Iran has already invited Charlie Rose or other American journalists to come and cover this event. i hope Dr. Zarif has used his influence to get Charlie Rose a visa to Iran for this event, but in case that hasn't happened, i told him to at least talk about it in his show! here's my email to him:
Dear Mr. Rose,
I really really hope you're going to Iran this week to cover this important event, which is a clear proof of Madeleine Albright's point about the non-monolithic nature of Iran, and if you and your fellow American journalists actually cover such events, then the American people won't fall for the fear-mongering tactics of those who would like to paint Senator Obama as naive and dangerous b/c of his Foreign Policy doctrine of engagement and his smart assessment about the fact that Ahmadinejad's days are very very numbered!
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.2552322528
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0810094672164802.htm
I really hope you're on your way to Tehran tonight! What a missed opportunity if you are not going to cover this event! It's hard to believe that you would go there to interview that uncultured little nobody (Ahmadinejad) who thinks he's somebody, but you are not going there to show to the world what Iran can look like by next June! (after President Khatami's re-election)
Please go, or if it's too late now, please talk about it in your program. Reporters from AP, BBC and Aljazira are going to cover it, so please invite their journalists to come and share their reports with your audience! and please tell Christian Amanpour to also report this on CNN.
Best Regards,
Anna
anyway, ...
where r u dr. ebtekar?
;-)