A conference to discuss the applications of biotechnology in the arid zones started in Kuwait today. The conference was sponsored by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and included a large number of regional personalities. Ismail Serageldin was invited to give the opening address, and delivered a talk (in Arabic) on the directions that biotechnology research is taking. He reported to the audience, including ministers and eminent personalities from the media and the private sector, about the enormous advances in industrial as well as agricultural biotechnology. He mentioned the health applications of biotechnology and sketched out the directions of the future.
The speech, illustrated with slides, was very well received. Serageldin said that this was his first international speech as the new Director a.i. of the Library of Alexandria.