Oct. 14 – Pier Luigi Malesani, one of the founders of the National University of Somalia (before the Civil War) and current Secretary General of Copeam (Permanent Conference of Audiovisuals in the Mediterranean), visited Mogadishu in the name of cultural exchanges, research and dialogue. His three-day visit sought to assess the situation of Somali universities so as to resume cooperation with Italian counterparts. Accompanied by the Italian ambassador, Fabrizio Marcelli, Malesani met with Foreign Minister Abdirahman Duale Beile, the Minister of Education, Duale Adan Mohamed, the Minister of Health, Ali Mohamed Mohamud, the Minister of Agriculture, Abdi Ahmed Hussein, the Minister of Animal Safety, Salim Aliyow, and Professor Mohamed Ahmed Jimale, Dean of SNU. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently entrusted the CIRPS, the Interuniversity Research Centre for Sustainable Development (which relies on Copeam for all audiovisual matters), with the task of setting up an educational Web TV, with training courses with subtitles in Somali. Somali students enrolled in the Departments of Agriculture, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Law will have the possibility to embark in cultural and scientific exchanges with Italian academic institutions. (Gil)
