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.”