5th anniversary and distinguished guest

On Wednesday 20 March 2024, the Transnational Red Sea Center celebrated the 5th anniversary of its creation in a very special - and rewarding - way! In Djibouti, in the presence of Federal Councilor Ignacio Cassis, who was visiting the country, at an event organised at the University with all the TRSC's local partners, and in the presence of the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Nabil Mohamed Ahmed, and the Swiss Ambassador, Pietro Mona.

The meeting gave an opportunity to Prof Anders Meibom, Director of the TRSC, and Dr Guilhem Banc Prandi, Scientific Director, to present to the Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and his delegation the extent of scientific collaboration with Djibouti in particular; It was also an opportunity to give Mr Cassis an overview of the relations forged by the TRSC with all eight countries of the Red Sea since 19 March 2019, the date of the official launch in Berne of this EPFL initiative bridging science and diplomacy to preserve the corals of the Red Sea.

The TRSC team took the opportunity to warmly thank Mr Cassis in person for his unfailing support throughout these pioneering years - he himself chaired the TRSC launch conference - and with him all those involved in the FDFA in Bern, in the Swiss embassies around the Red Sea and even some honorary consuls in the region.

Today, the vision expressed in 2019 of scientific diplomacy to preserve the corals of the Red Sea - the "reefs of hope" that are resistant to climate change - carried by the TRSC and the EPFL with the support of the FDFA continues stronger than ever.