Opening address [Symposium on the peaceful uses of atomic energy in Africa, Kinshasa (Congo, The Democratic Republic of the), 28 July - 1 August 1969]

The symposium has particular importance, not only because it is the first of its kind to be held in Africa, but also because it deals with a relatively new technology that is considered to have far-reaching potentialities for the future scientific, economic, industrial and social development of the developing countries. Few technical developments in history have attracted the attention and raised the hopes of mankind as much as the development of nuclear energy, which gives promise in a wide and varied number of fields. For the continent of Africa, which has suffered a long era of foreign domination and under-development, and which is now passing through a phase of active development of its resources and the application of modern technology to the welfare and prosperity of its people, 'nuclear technology' represents an important source of vast potentialities which should be carefully assessed and fully exploited