On April 21-25, meetings were held at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, SIA informs.
Azerbaijan at these meetings was represented by a delegation led by Deputy Minister of Communications and High Technologies Elmir Velizadeh.
The delegation included head of the Information Society Development Department of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies (MCHT) Isbandiyar Aliyev, head of Department for International Cooperation of MCHT Ayaz Bayramov, leading adviser of the same department Abbas Mammadov, chairman of the National Nuclear Research Centre (NNRC) under MCHT Adil Garibov, deputy chairman of NNRC Ibrahim Gabulov, head of the Nuclear Physics Department of NNRC Anar Rustamov and technical director of the International Relations and Accounting Centre of MCHT Mazahim Guliyev.
The main purpose of the visit was to discuss the prospects for future cooperation between MCHT and CERN.
On the first day of the visit, the delegation met with responsible executives of CERN and familiarized themselves with the activities of CERN’s research centres - Synchrotron, ATLAS, LHC superconducting magnet test hall and others. During the meeting, CERN representatives expressed their interest in developing relations with Azerbaijan. During the meeting with leaders of the ALICE project they discussed the possibility of participation of National Nuclear Research Centre in the project.
On the next day of the visit, head of the Worldwide Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid (WLCG) project Ian Bird informed the delegation about the centre’s computer network and TIER 0 data centre. The Azerbaijani side provided detailed information about the state-of-the-art data centre, which is expected to be commissioned in the republic in the near future.
During the visit, the sides exchanged views on Azerbaijan’s associate membership in CERN, storing data on CERN’s research activities in the data centre being created in Azerbaijan, participation of the NNRC in the project for the peaceful use of nuclear technologies in the country.
Also, in the course of the meetings, CERN showed special interest in the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) project. It was stressed that the information highway will contribute a lot to the further expansion of scientific relations with the countries of the region.