Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel greeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his arrival in Petra for the Conference of Nobel Laureates on May 17th 2005.
The Jordan Times reported on April 26, 2006, “Nobel laureates from the six fields in which the Nobel Prize is awarded each year – peace, economics, literature, physics, chemistry, and physiology and medicine – are expected to attend.”
“These include Peter Agre, Aaron Ciechanover, Johann Deisenhofer, Avram Hershko and Yuan T. Lee in chemistry; Richard Axel, Baruch S. Blumberg, Christian de Duve and Eric R. Kandel in medicine; Georges Charpak, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Val Fitch and Donald A. Glaser in physics; Finn E. Kydland and Robert A. Mundell in economics; Wole Soyinka in literature; and Frederik W. de Klerk, Jose Ramos-Horta and the Dalai Lama in peace,” the report added.
The Jordan News Agency, in a report from Amman on April 26, 2006, quotes King Abdullah as saying, “For more than 100 years, Nobel Laureates have represented excellence in the pursuit of humanity’s advancement. Elie Wiesel and I have invited this distinguished group, along with a number of leaders from different disciplines to convene once again in Petra and carry forward our promise to this and future generations to address the inequalities, asymmetries and threats to peace that abound.”
The conference of the Nobel laureates is being hosted by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD) and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
“During the two-day conference, they are expected to discuss challenges to global security and development, the strategies and activities of the Nobel Laureates Initiative launched last year, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and other regional issues,” the Jordan News Agency reported.
Elie Wiesel, co-founder of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity and the 1986 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize said, “It is both humbling and awe-inspiring to work among fellow Nobel Laureates, leaders and His Majesty King Abdullah II to explore the most critical problems of our time. Last year in Petra, we launched the Nobel Laureates Initiative to deepen cooperation and foster regular communications between laureates. This year we will report advancements made by the initiative, as well as define a role for Nobel Laureates in response to humanitarian emergencies.”
According to the Jordan Times, the Nobel laureates will be joined “by world-renowned leaders from the public and private sectors, as well as from civil society, including former US ambassador to the UN Richard C. Holbrooke, founder of Medecins sans Frontiers Bernard Kouchner, former US surgeon general David Satcher, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Sathirathai Surakiart, entertainment executive and actor Michael Douglas, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund representative Stephen Heintz, and Library of Alexandria representative Ismail Serageldin.”
“Participants will congregate in the ancient city of Petra, a monument of human ingenuity and creativity, reflected in the symbiosis of the built and natural environments,” the report added.