Al-Shahristani becomes President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
Former Iraqi politician Dr Hussain Al-Shahristani. Photo: AP Photo
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Recently, the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs announced the appointment of Dr. Hussain Al-Shahristani, a former politician from Iraq, as its new president.
Al-Shahristan takes over for Sergio Duarte, who declared his retirement following nearly seven years in the position.
Al-Shahristani has given keynote addresses at the 20th anniversary of the Pugwash/Rotblat Nobel Peace Prize, the Dorothy Hodgkin Memorial Lecture at the 2004 Seoul conference, and session talks at the 2011 Berlin and 2017 Astana conferences, among other Pugwash meetings and conferences in which he has taken part. Furthermore, Al-Shahristani received the Roosevelt Foundation’s Freedom from Fear Award in 2012.
Al-Shahristani is an Iraqi scientist, academic, and statesman who fled to Iran after the first Gulf War and returned to Iraq in 2005, when he served as the National Assembly’s first vice president during the transition. He has held several positions in the Iraqi government between 2006 and 2016, including Minister of Oil from 2006 to 2010, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs from 2010 to 2014, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2014, and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research from 2014 to 2016.
The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international forum that convenes academics and prominent individuals to deliberate on scientific understanding and rationale about the dire threat that nuclear and other WMDs represent to humankind.