Special to AG-IP-News Agency 

AMMAN - The Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN) is now working very closely with the Latin American Cooperation of Advanced Networks (RedCLARA). The focus areas of partnership include cooperation in Open Science and supporting Earth Observation activities.

This step comes after longstanding cooperation with the European and the African sister organizations; GÉANT, WACREN and Ubuntunet Alliance, under the AfricaConnect and the EUMEDCONNECT projects.

ASREN and RedCLARA have signed a cooperation agreement, with the support of EU co-funded AfricaConnect3 project, under which ASREN will adopt and contribute to developing the LA Referencia open-source discovery software, towards launching a regional platform for harvesting, validation, enrichment and publication of metadata of scientific production in the Arab region, raising the visibility of Arabic content locally and internationally and furthering open access and open science in the region.

ASREN has also signed a cooperation declaration with RedCLARA and the pan-European GÉANT network, by which they commit to participate in a collaborative endeavor across the three continents supporting the international Group on Earth Observation (GEO) efforts, for the purpose of advancing society and creating a better world, through research and innovation.

HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman of ASREN, said: “ASREN is growing rapidly and extending its services beyond connectivity, and is taking further concrete steps towards supporting Open Science in the region and enabling science cooperation around the globe.”

ASREN operates under the umbrella of the League of Arab States, as a non-profit international organization, with the aim of setting up a pan-Arab research and education network, and boosting scientific research and cooperation in member countries through the provision of world-class e-Infrastructures and e-services connecting Arab institutions with each other as well as with the rest of the world, with the support of the European Union and Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global.