SESAME centre to be connected to European research network in London

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) centre will be connected to the European Network for Research and Education in London with the goal of sharing global research and resources under an agreement signed Wednesday.

The deal aims at providing international connectivity, which serves as an opportunity for regional research and educational institutions to benefit from specialised networks without the use of traditional commercial Internet networks.

“Specialised connectivity for research and education networks in Jordan strongly supports national researchers, and facilitates the process of sending data to and from international research centres,” Khaled Toukan, director general of SESAME, said at a meeting Wednesday to sign the deal with Orange Jordan.

“Providing research centres such as SESAME, which will be launched in 2017, with integrated technical communication services is an important step, as it enables researchers to more efficiently share the data that they obtain from their research,” the former energy minister added.

Talal Abu Ghazaleh, chairman of the Arab States Research and Education (ASREN), highlighted the importance of such connectivity at the local and global levels in the fields of research and learning, as it enables continuous communication between researchers in the Middle East and the rest of the world.

“This agreement comes as part of the European Union’s support of the link between Euro-Mediterranean and African projects, in which the organisation works on providing specialised communication for academic research and learning between Arab countries, and European and international networks,” he said.

Jérôme Hénique, CEO of Orange Jordan, said the deal which seeks to contribute to the development of and transformation to a knowledge-based economy and sharing expertise.