SESAME COUNCIL Interim Council Meeting

2nd Meeting of the International (Interim) Council
13th-14th December 1999, UNESCO, Paris

Summary Report prepared by Dr Siegbert Raither
Secretary, SESAME International (Interim) Council

1. The Director-General, Mr Koïchiro MATSUURA, opened the meeting and welcomed participants. He assured them that UNESCO and he personally would do everything possible to develop the SESAME project within the framework of UNESCO.
2. The Interim Council (IC) unanimously accepted the Republic of Armenia and the Sultanate of Oman as Members of the IC. Armenia is represented by Professor Eduard GHAZARIAN, Minister of Education and Science, and Professor Ruben MKRTCHYAN, Director of the Yerevan Physics Institute. Oman is represented by Dr Musa Bin Jaafar BIN HASSAN, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the Sultanate of Oman to UNESCO, and Professor Vincent MCBRIERTY, Professor of Physics and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Sultan Qaboos University.
3. The IC approved the Armenian proposals nominating members of the SESAME Advisory Committees as well as the nomination by Israel of Dr Meir Zadok as member of the Finance Committee and the nomination by Jordan of Dr Kamal ARAJ to the Training Committee as replacement of Professor H. Ghassib.
4. Professor Herwig Schopper, President of the IC than reported on the status of the SESAME project. Together with the Assistant Director-General for Science, Prof Maurizio Iaccarino, he had travelled to the Middle East for consultations on SESAME. The mission confirmed the large interest of Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority in this international project. The report of the mission was available during the meeting. Professor Scopper then informed the IC of the letter that was received from the Federal Ministry of Research and Education spelling out the position of the German Government concerning the transfer of BESSY I to the Middle East. This meeting of the IC needed to come to a decision on the financing of the dismantling, packing and transporting of BESSY I and identify one or more possible internationally-acceptable sites where SESAME could be located.
5. Professor Voss reported on the work of the Technical Committee. The Committee had met in August at BESSY to prepare guidelines for site proposals. It met again at UNESCO on 9-10 December to make a technical evaluation of the 18 possible sites that seven governments had submitted for locating the SESAME facility. The Technical Committee submitted a summary report to the IC stating unanimously that "there is no question that many sites exists than can be developed to be the basis of a successful scientific and technological facility, fulfilling the requirements of international cooperation".
6. Professor Alp and Professor Winick reported on the work of the Scientific Committee. The Committee was very active and had met in August at BESSY in Berlin. It had done a survey of potential users and their research interests through the internet. More than 300 potential users of SESAME have been identified.
7. Professor Miguel Virasoro reported on the activities of the Training Committee and informed the IC that a proposal had been submitted to the Government of Italy to fund a training programme for users of synchrotron radiation at Elettra and ICTP. The IC felt the Training Committee was of great importance for the success of the SESAME project and a concerted effort needed to be made to intensify training activities in cooperation with the Technical and Scientific Committees. Professor Winick stated that he was managing a programme of training for Middle East scientists at US Synchrotron Radiation Laboratories with funds from the US Government amounting to $100,000. The IC decided to appoint Professor Mansouri as Co-Chair of the Training Committee. The Co-Chairs will inform the IC as soon as possible on the activities the Committee is planning to implement.
8. Professor Said Assaf reported on the status of the Finance Committee. The IC regretted that the FC had not yet established a plan of action and called on it to do so without delay. It was considered most important to begin a fund-raising campaign in the Middle East which would have the added advantage of making SESAME widely known in that area and stimulating countries not yet Members of the IC to join SESAME. As a rule, members of the FC should come from Member countries and be appointed by the IC. The IC appointed Professor Comsan as the Co-Chair of the FC. Other persons with special expertise could be invited to join but not be formal members. The IC appointed Professor Richard Wilson to serve on the FC on that basis.
9. The discussion of the draft statutes is described in the Resolution of the IC.
10. Financial commitments of the Members and the contributions of Observers totalling $245,000 for the dismantling, boxing and transporting of BESSY I are described in the Resolution. The President reported that the Director-General of UNESCO had agreed to provide $400,000 as well. The Director-General will inform the German Federal Minister of Education and Research that he considers that conditions have been fulfilled for the continuation of the project.

Attachments:

• Opening Remarks of the Director-General
• Resolution
• List of Participants