The Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN) and the European Academic and Research Network (GEANT) have conducted the EUMEDCONNECT3 and AfricaConenct2 Cluster3 project meetings in Beirut during 12-13 September 2019 at the American University of Beirut that generously hosted the meeting.
In addition to ASREN and GEANT, the meeting was attended by representatives of research and education networks form Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. The Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) was also present in the meeting.
The meeting started by presenting the current status and plans of the projects (EUMEDCONNECT3 and AfricaConnect2) and the plans for AfricaConenct3 and EUMEDCONNECT4. All participants then presented and discussed the status of connectivity and services at each NREN. ASREN also presented a report on its activities and plans especially under the upcoming AfricaConenct3 Project. In addition to connectivity, ASREN will also focus on capacity building, advocacy, user engagements, and services including clouds, open access and open data, earth observation.
The European Union co-finances the EUMEDCONENCT3 and AfricaConenct2 Projects to support the developments of e-Infrastructures in Africa and Mediterranean region with GEANT and ASREN are responsible for the implementation of these projects for the Mediterranean and North Africa. GEANT also cooperates with WACREN and Ubuntunet Alliance for implementing the africAConect2 project in the rest of Africa.
