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Meeting of Computer Networking Panel in Kazakhstan

Virtual Silk Highway

About... The Virtual Silk Highway

A meeting of the Advisory Panel on Computer Networking took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 20 to 22 June 2002. The meeting was hosted by KazRENA, the newly formed Kazakh National Research and Educational Networking Association, and the Vice-Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan, Prof. G. Mutanov, welcomed participants to the Kazakh National Technical University on behalf of the Kazakh government.

Vice Minister Mutanov pointed out the importance the Kazakh government pays to the development of information technology knowledge skills and in its educational system and expressed appreciation for the support provided by the NATO Science Programme through its provision of access to the Internet for higher education and research institutions.

The Panel had invited information technology experts from 18 nations to participate in the meeting, from both NATO countries and Partner countries, including the countries of Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus, in view of the ongoing development of NATO's Virtual Silk Highway project in the eight countries of the area.

A Task Force has been set up by the Computer Networking Panel to direct the Silk Project, and around the meeting of the Advisory Panel, therefore, several meetings took place between the Silk Task Force and representatives of the National Research and Educational Networking Associations (NRENs) and government agencies from all eight Silk countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Discussions at the Task Force meeting centred around setting up appropriate organisational structures for the joint management of the project in the future - i.e. Silk Board, Fiscal Committee and Technical Working Groups. In addition, formal eligibility requirements were clarified, designed to ensure that the countries were ready to receive their part of the project, being in a position to exploit the delivered equipment.

The Task Force also met with commercial Kazakh internet service providers to explain that the Virtual Silk Highway should not be seen as a threat to their businesses, but as a means of producing future customers.

Representatives from Central Asian countries made use of the opportunity and met for another round of discussions towards the goal of creating a Central Asian Region Networking Association (CARNA). This initiative is presently led by Academician Kutanov, the representative of the Kyrgyz Republic on the NATO Science Committee in Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council format.

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