The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), an agency under the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Academy of Sciences to promote scientific cooperation between the two institutions. This 5-year document establishes a framework for future negotiations and agreements.

The African Academy of Sciences is a non-political, non-profit pan-African organization based in Nairobi, Kenya. Its mission is to harness science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development of Africa by recognizing excellence, awarding scholarships and implementing key Science, Technology and Innovation programs, among other actions.

The purpose of this memorandum is to establish general guidelines for cooperation between both institutions with the aim of promoting collaboration between their scientists and research groups in scientific and technological fields in which both parties have a clear interest.

Among other actions, the CSIC and the African Academy of Sciences will offer each other support in scientific and technological research work, the organization of courses and conferences, the joint publication of articles and other scientific publications, the implementation of postgraduate programs and the establishment of stays for research and training personnel.

This memorandum is part of an initiative of the CSIC's Vice-Presidency for Internationalisation and Cooperation to strengthen the cooperation strategy with Africa. This strategy is in addition to the CSIC Programme for Scientific Cooperation for Development i-COOP+, which was created in 2011 to promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and contribute to strengthening the scientific-technical and training capacities of countries receiving Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Original article was written by CSIC Communication and is available here.