Eastern Partnership Event to boost e-infrastructures in Eastern Partnership countries

11 Dec 2012, 10:00 → 12 Dec 2012, 15:00 Europe/Chisinau

Conference Hall (Academy of Sciences of Moldova, RENAM)

Improved awareness of the importance of e-infrastructures and their impact on a country’s development; possible greater integration of Eastern partnership countries with the pan-European GÉANT network, other regional and pan-European eInfrastructure initiatives; and a sustainable future for research and education networks were the main items of the agenda the eInfrastructures in Eastern Partnership Countries Event.
The Eastern Partnership Event (EPE2012), a workshop on e-infrastructures in Eastern Partnership countries, was organized 11-12 December 2012 in Moldova by TERENA as part of the GÉANT Development Support Activity and the Academy of Sciences of Moldova under the auspices of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership Platform 4. The workshop seeks to improve e-infrastructures in Eastern Partnership countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine by providing an opportunity for stakeholders to meet with policy makers in order to raise awareness of the importance of Research and Educational networks, distributed and High Performance computing infrastructures and services. The event was attended by over 70 participants from 16 countries.
The European Union’s Eastern Partnership is a regional cooperation programme that was inaugurated in May 2009 to support political, social and economic development in the Eastern Partnership countries with a view to gradual integration into the EU economy. This provides support to initiatives contributing to the stability and security of partner countries, and that improve effective cooperation between those countries and the EU. Platform 4 'Contacts between People' is concerned with the development of e-infrastructures and supporting services that are key to implementing the overall goals of the Eastern Partnership, and the aim is to build on the progress already seen in the partner countries through other support actions.
At the event participated and made presentations representatives of four HP-SEE project partners from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova. Hrachya Astsatryan from the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia in his presentation “HP-SEE - Regional eInfrastructure Development for South East Europe’s Research” overviewed the general status of the project and focused on current results and achievements. During the panel session: “Sustaining eInfrastructures in Eastern Partnership countries” were outlined HP-SEE project activities for providing connectivity to GÉANT network for Caucasian countries.
On 11 December 2012 the Event participants began to sign Joint Declaration aimed at boosting research networking and other eInfrastructure components in Eastern Partnership region. More than 50 members of National Governments, professors from Universities and Academies of Science, and practitioners of research and education ICT infrastructures from the Eastern Partnership countries, as well as representatives of key organisations from the EU Member States had signed the Joint Declaration.

Slides 20130212-epe-report.pdf