Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. Consulting

Suggest Subject : Abu-Ghazaleh Announces the 1st International Platform on Integrating Arab e-infrastructure in a Global Environment
Date : 05-Dec-2011
Text : Under the Patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein

AMMAN - December 5, 2011 - HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN) chairman announced on Monday the 1st International Platform on Integrating Arab e-infrastructure in a Global Environment which will be organized under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein December 12-14 at the Four Seasons Hotel.

The event will be held in conjuction with EUMED Event 4, Internet2 SIG Middle East Meeting and ASREN 1st Annual Meeting with special sessions to be dedicated to specific domains such as Digital Cultural Heritage, Climate Change, Economic Crisis, Global Warming, and Energy.

During a press conference conducted today at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh extended his appreciation to His Majesty King Abdullah II and welcomed the media who are part of this one of a kind event.

"This unique event in the region and the world is meant to be the launching pad for Research & Education connectivity and cooperation. It will bring together the ASREN, EUMED, GEANT, and INTERNET 2 stakeholders and the region's foremost innovators, leaders, scientists, and businesses to discuss and debate new models of innovation, integration of R&E networks, policies for sustainable development in education, means of knowledge sharing and dissemination, capacity building programs, and the region-wide e- infrastructure deployment to tackle today's crises in climate change, global economy, food and water scarcity, alternative energy, and threatening environmental issues. The forum can lay the foundation for a dream of many of today's leaders towards a global e-infrastructure for R&E based on real life broad inclusiveness beyond any political protocols," he said.

According to Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh the objectives of the event are to:

•
announce the first year of achievements of ASREN and present its future planning

•launch the third phase of the EUMEDCONENCT project

•show the achievements of e-Infrastructures in the area such as EUMEDGRID and further build on the success of the previous EUMED Events 1,2 and 3 to present and develop cooperation between the Arab, European, and US researchers.

•draw attention of high level politicians and decision makers on the importance of the e-Infrastructures to develop the research and education communities in the Arab world and beyond.

•
help and support sustainable research and education network across the Arab region connected to the European Network GEANT2, North American Network Internet2 and other regional networks around the world.

•attract and encourage donors, research foundations and supporting institutions in the Arab region, Europe and worldwide to support the development of ASREN and research e-infrastructure .

•strengthen the involvement of the private sector's collaboration in developing research and education.

•Bring the attention of scientists and researchers on the importance of e-Infrastructure and to showcase examples of collaborative and joint research projects.

He added that the Integrating Arab e-Infrastructure in a Global Environment will help tackle development of R&E networks in the Arab world and beyond by showing how e-Infrastructures can be used to provide high-quality education and research on a large scale.

At end of the press conference, HE Abu-Ghazaleh extended his gratitude to the European Union particularly the Directorate General Information Society and Media (DG- INFSO) for supporting the scientific infrastructure in the Arab countries bordering the Mediterranean through the EUMED CONNECT and EUMEDGRID-SUPPORT.

He also thanked all sponsors for their support:

•Royal Court - the Royal Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

•Jordanian Government: Ministry of ICT and Ministry of Higher Education

•European Commission: DG INFSO and DG RELEX

•The United Nations , UNESCO and UNDP

•International Model United Nations Association

•League of Arab States: Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and Arab ICT Organization (AICTO)

•USAID

•Foundations like Qatar Foundation, MBR Foundation, AGFUND, Macarthur Foundation , Clinton Initiative , Packard Foundation , Ford foundation, Abu Dhabi Research Fund

•Research and Education Networks: ASREN, GEANT2, INTERNET2 SIG, European NRENs, Arab NRENs, other Regional NRENs

•Universities: Universities from around the region will be involved

•IO/NGO and Research Communities: European Investment Bank, FAO, ICTP,CERN, SESAME, CONGO , Global Hope , ICRC, African Union, Sharing Knowledge Foundation

•Industry: TAG-Org , Jordan Telecom, ZAIN, Cisco, Regional Telco's, Google, Tata communications, Microsoft, Hewlet Packard, Apple , Dell , Oracle, and more

- Ends -

About ASREN GmbH
ASREN GmbH is a registered non-profit association of the Arab region National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) and strategic partners. It aims to implement, manage and extend sustainable Pan-Arab e-Infrastructures dedicated for the Research and Education communities and to boost scientific research and cooperation in member countries through the provision of world-class e-Infrastructures and E-services.

The first intention of forming the Consortium of Arab Mediterranean Research and Education Networks (CAMREN) was first declared in 2006 by the 7 Arab partners of the EUMEDCONNECT project that connect over 2 million academic users and researchers in 400 research centres and educational establishments. The partner countries, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia, are represented by their national research and education network organisations and co-finance the network infrastructure and management costs, a substantial investment of around 1.5 million Euros each year.

In December 2009 the idea is refined and the proposed new regional association is now the Arab States Research and Education Network, under the patronage of the League of Arab States, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGOrg), and the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID). It replaces the CAMREN proposal and enables a wider participation throughout the Arab region (U.A.E. and Qatar organisations have joined the discussion process). Since then, with the support of UMEDCONNECT2 funded by the European Commission and managed by DANTE (UK), three strategic planning workshop have been held in Cairo (January 2010) and Brussels (March 2010) and Algiers (July 2010), to finalize all the agreements on the organisation's mission, objectives, structure and strategic plan.

A first formal announcement of the creation of ASREN was made at the EU-Med Conference on e-Infrastructures across the Mediterranean on March 31st 2010 in Brussels, by Dr Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of TAGOrg and GAID. Since then TAG-Org has been providing key technical and financial support in addition to political lobbying for the creation of ASREN. TAG-Org has lead the registration process of ASREN as a non-profit organization in Germany and has made all its resources available to meet the legal and financial requirements for a legally registered ASREN in Europe and operational in the Arab region. In July 2010, His Excellency Mr. Amre Moussa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, endorsed the creation of ASREN, and in December 2010 announced its formal launching at the League of Arab States in Cairo, Egypt. ASREN has been officially registered in Germany with Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. Consulting GmbH, Jordanian Universities Network, and Moroccan Research and Education Network (CNRST) as initial shareholders. Its 1st annual meeting will be organized during e-AGE 2011.

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20111205141834

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