Abu-Ghazaleh Inaugurates the Arab Science Cooperation Summit
AMMAN - With the objective of establishing the Arab Science Dialogue and facilitating Science Cooperation in the Arab world, and with particular focus on UN-SDGs, the Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN) has convened its second version of the Arab Science Cooperation Summit on 22 September 2022, alongside the Global science Summit. That happened during the 77th United Nations General Assembly UNGA77 and was opened by HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of ASREN and TAG.Global.
The summit has witnessed high level participation and presentations, notably by Prof. Amr Ezzat Salama, Secretary General, Association of Arab Universities, Prof. Mahmoud Abu Mouis, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Palestine, Prof. Farah Sheikh Abdikadir, Minister of Education Culture and Higher Education of Somalia, HE Prof. Saif bin Abdullah Al Haddabi, Undersecretary for Research and Innovation, The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Oman, Prof. Mahmoud Sakr, President of Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt, Prof. Abdelmajid Benamara, Secretariat General, Federation of Arab Scientific Research Councils Sudan, Prof. Abdulaziz Almuzaini, UNESCO CAIRO Office Director and UNESCO Representative to Egyp and Dr. Fadila Boughanemi, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission, Belgium.
Other representatives from Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Somalia, Jordan, Kuwait, Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Lebanon, Argentina, Oman, UAE and South African universities representing research organizations, national authorities, research and education networks, national and regional institutions, global and international organizations have also participated.
All participants have presented the status of science cooperation in the Arab region at national, regional and global levels and discussed challenges and future opportunities with focus on Science, Research and Education as means for development in the Arab region. Open science and Open Access were thoroughly discussed as enablers for the cooperation. Participants highlighted that infrastructures, tools and access to resources are among the main challenges facing science cooperation.
One of the main outcomes of the session is that it opened up the dialogue on cooperation in science between the Arab countries and other regions, and it called for cooperation projects with the surrounding regions with focus on Science, Open Science, Open Access and supporting science, research and education communities.
Commenting on the successful outcome, HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of ASREN said: “It is obvious that scientific research is directed to be productive to solve global, regional and local problems, including what has been classified under the UN-SDGs. However, we also believe that scientific research projects should be supported and funded with innovation in mind, so that it can be then translated into a commercial product.”