27/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The conference concerning research organised last week by the Belgian Presidency again stressed the need to 1) promote research, with a summary memorandum distributed by the Presidency emphasising that Europe cannot afford to be isolated, but must strike a balance between competition and partnership; 2) strengthen the mobility of researchers; 3) open up to the world, by welcoming researchers from third countries in good conditions, but also by helping them to return to their country of origin after a certain period of time since, as the memorandum points out, it is not by emptying third countries of their brainpower that it will be possible to eliminate the growing North/South imbalance and global instability.