News
- María José López Pourailly
January 24, Panama City: BELLA reaches Panama
The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, Ana Luisa Castro, the Head of Unit of DG INTPA (International Partnerships) of the European Union (EU), Felice Zaccheo, and the Executive Director of RedCLARA, Luis Eliécer Cadenas, met on January 24 in Panama City to discuss about the possible connection of Panama to the Latin-American academic network, and of the possibilities that a new phase of BELLA focused on Central America and the Caribbean will open to scientific and academic collaboration within the region and with Europe.
The authorities visited the facilities where the BELLA capacities that will interconnect Brazil, Panama and Ecuador, will be settled in May 2022, closing the South American ring with which BELLA will extremely expand the capabilities of RedCLARA’s backbone. Ana Luisa Castro, Felice Zaccheo, and Luis Eliécer Cadenas, also met with the Ambassador of Panama in Brussels, Yavel Francis, and with the representatives of the Panamanian National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG), the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (Senacyt), and of the Council of Rectors.
“The lunch meeting and the visit to the facilities where the BELLA node will be placed, it is a great milestone for the future connectivity of Panama to BELLA and through it, to Europe”, stated Luis Eliécer Cadenas, Executive Director of RedCLARA, institution that runs the terrestrial section of the BELLA Programme in Latin America. For example, this connectivity will allow Panama to be part of the Copernicus Programme, which is a relevant aim for the EC and the EU that have been in conversations about this issue with the Government of Panama.
Within the meeting the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, the Head of Unit of DG INTPA (International Partnerships) of the EU and the Executive Director of RedCLARA, discussed about Panama’s participation in Copernicus, as well as the new possibilities that the connection of Panama opens to the future development of initiatives in science, research, innovation and development.
During the evening, the Executive Director of RedCLARA met with representatives of the Panamanian National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG), the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (Senacyt), and of the Council of Rectors, in order to find the ways to foster the creation of an NREN in Panama and it’s connection to RedCLARA and benefit from the BELLA connectivity and of the possibilities that a new phase of BELLA, focused in Central America and the Caribbean, should open to the region.
About BELLA: The BELLA Programme provides for the long-term interconnectivity needs of European and Latin American research and education communities. This is being achieved through two complementary and interdependent actions which will significantly enhance the ability of researchers and academics across the two regions to collaborate. These are BELLA-S (regarding the submarine cable that interconnects Europe and Latin America that was launched in September 2021) and BELLA-T, the terrestrial backbone in South America that is enhancing the capacities of RedCLARA backbone. Funding for BELLA is provided by the European Union via three EC Directorates General (DG CONNECT, DG INTPA and DG DEFIS) and by the Latin America NREN community.
