Architectural education will have to focus on the need for mobility of architects and the university courses on global warming.

The architects are also required to address issues like natural disasters and rising energy prices while undertaking rebuilding and sustainable development.

This was stated by architect Gaetan Siew, president of the International Union of Architects (UIA), while talking to The Daily Star exclusively in the capital yesterday.

The Mauritius-born and Francebased leader of over 1.5 million architects in 113 countries is here to invite Nobel Laureate Dr Md Yunus

as Speaker at the UIA General Assembly to beheld at Turin in Italy nextmonth.

If all goes well, the Bangladeshi 'banker to the poor' will be the first non-architect to be the Speaker at a UIA assembly, said Gaetan Siew.

He said the search for local solu-tions rather than imposing imported ones is one of the reasons why the UIA has decided to invite Dr Yunus to address over 12000 architects expected to assemble in the capital ciryoffririn Province.

Corroborating the query whether architects and architecture have failed mankind in improving the quality of human settlements, Gaetan Siew cited the action of governments and international financing institutions, including the role of the World Bank, and the fact that architects are involved in the last part of the building process as the primary reasons.

The UIA has been working with implementing agencies like UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) to formulate policies and increase awareness about global warming and energy crisis, said the visiting architect

He said to meet the needs of urbanisation and poverty, the UIA has also been working through its member countries to derive standards, disseminate information and acquire knowledge.