Concluding Remarks on the Conference by Tedros Sium (PhD)

Honorable Ministers, Honorable PFDJ Officials, other Government Officials, and Distinguished Conference Participants

It is my great pleasure to be here at the end of ICES25 to give a brief concluding remarks on the conference. On behalf of the Organizing Committee, let me first sincerely appreciate the commitment of the participants and the leadership and vision of those who made this conference possible.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Organizing an international conference on Eritrean studies commenced with the objective to create an international platform for open and honest academic and scholarly discourse. The last three days have revealed nothing but, a truly academic platform, both young and experienced scholars, academics and practitioners shared their views and perspectives on national, regional and international issues across social, natural and humanities fields of studies.

Within the last three days, out of 157 papers 151 papers were presented categorized in 19 themes and attended by over 530 participants. Only six presentations missed this opportunity due to unexpected circumstances.   This indicates that by all measures the conference has been successful and will have long lasting impacts. The three days conferences have covered several issues which extended from Archeology to Artificial Intelligence. These include

The application of science and digital tools in the field of energy, science and technology, architecture, food security, education, language, etc. had appealing nature and informative contributions which triggered heated debates and a range of discussions. We believe, the presentations also have a potential to offer insightful knowledge and experience for development planers and relevant institutions in Eritrea.
Presentations in the fields of history, politics, law and other related disciplines covered past and contemporary socio-economic and political dynamics of Eritrea and the neighboring countries. Having covered almost all burning issues in the shifting global order in our region from legal, political and economic dimensions, the presentations illuminated the understandings on Eritrea’s policies, practices, values, visions and perspectives.
The discovery of the ancient and past archeological knowledge has been among the main contents of the presentations in the Archeology and Heritage sessions. These presentations discussed about the untapped sites and unmonetized Heritage in Eritrea. Presentations on archiving dealt with the process of locating and salvaging Eritrean heritage documents from different parts of Eritrea and the World. The presentations revealed that what has been achieved so far is commendable, of course with the emphasis that this process requires time, patience and resources.
In Health and medicine, presentations covered safety of medicine, maternal and child health services, and emerging health challenges in Eritrea. Their evidence-based research will inform the policy and practitioners in the Eritrean health service system.
The conference has been an important platform for oral poetry, ethnomusicology, publication as well as translation experiences in Eritrea. Presented in different Eritrean languages, the discussions allowed participants to express their ideas and perspective freely in the languages they master. Above all, these have made the conference very colorful and appealing for further discussions beyond this conference.
Climate and environment conservations through advanced biotechnology and local knowledge, dominated the discussion in the natural sciences. The presentations in these sessions underlined and proposed for the need to introduce smart uses of natural resource as well as climate adaptive technics in agriculture in order to ensure sustainable development.

Distinguished participants,

Having examined the three days conference, the organizing committee has learned that the necessity to set a roadmap and mechanisms to implement the insights gained in this conference. This should include:

Finalizing this conference in the form of conference brief and conference proceedings,
organizing symposia and workshops in different fields,
establishing networks of experts in different fields, and
institutionalizing Eritrean studies and regularizing this kind of conferences.

In conclusion, the conference has been a forum where we, as a society and a nation, have been able to share our experience and principles to the rest of the world through scientific approaches.  One of the traditions in the African studies discourse has been the focus to interrogate what is missing instead of unpacking what is happening. The Eritrean studies tradition has also been subject to such academic malaise. Thus, organizing a conference such as this one, is an attempt to redirect the tradition in Eritrean studies to focus on discovering or rediscovering what is happening.

Finally, the conference would have been impossible without the contribution of different stakeholders. The organizing committee takes this opportunity to extend its gratitude to the Government of Eritrea, different stakeholders, abstract reviewers, presenters, moderators, rapporteurs, Hotel Asmara palace, all others we failed to mention, but above all you the participants. On top of that, the organizing committee thanks all those that showed relentless conviction to make this event a successful reality.

Thank you.

Awet Nhafash!

Tedros Sium (PhD)

Chair Academic Committee