A two-day conference entitled ‘Security, Science and Peace Conference’ organized by the Croatian Pugwash Group, a branch of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (https://pugwash.org/) and the World Academy of Arts and Science (www.worldacademy.org) was held from the 12-13 November 2021. It was held in a hybrid form due to epidemiological measures. The conference was held under the high patronage of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Zoran Milanović, and within the platform Conference on the Future of Europe.
In two days, six topics on security, science and peace were discussed. Academician Ivo Šlaus, member of the International Council of Pugwash, Paolo Cotta Ramusino, Secretary General of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Götz Neuneck from EuroPugwash and Zvonimir Šikić, President of the Croatian Pugwash Group, addressed the gathering at the beginning. The conference was moderated by Ana Jerković, Vice President of the Croatian Pugwash Group.
The first panel dealt with the topic ‘How can Croatia contribute to the security and peace policies of the European Union’, and was discussed by former President Ivo Josipović, former Minister Vesna Pusić, Ambassador Božo Kovačević and Krševan Antun Dujmović from IRMO. The second panel held was on ‘Science and Security’ in which the panelists were Götz Neuneck from EuroPugwash, Krunoslav Pisk, Director of the IUC, Nikola Protrka from the Ministry of the Interior and Toni Prug from the University of Rijeka. The third topic ‘Nuclear Disarmament and Global Security’ was a round table with Paolo Cotta Ramusino, Secretary General of Pugwash, Ambassador of Japan Misako Kaji, Ambassador of Kazakhstan Tolezhan Barlybayev, Ambassador of the Netherlands Henk Voskamp and Ambassador of Switzerland Emilia Georgieva.
The second day of the conference began with the panel on the role of the Non-Aligned Movement today, which was discussed by former President Stjepan Mesić, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Fakhraddin Gurbanov, diplomat Budimir Lončar and scientist Asim Kurjak. The panel on Emerging Technologies was held with presentations by Jürgen Altmann from the University of Dortmund, Frano Barbir from FESB, Haris Boko, Director of EUBusinees and Bojan Pečnik, Director of Hipersfera. The conference was concluded with the panel ‘Croatia and Space’ in which Tome Antičić from the Institute Ruđer Bošković, Marina Skender from FERIT, Slobodan Bosanac, director of the Adriatic Aerospace Organization and Mirta Medanić from Amphinicy Technologies presented their views on this topic.
