On November 19-22, Ashgabat will host the XVI sitting of the Virtual Silk Highway NATO Science Committee Project and the VI meeting of IT specialists of Caucasus and Central Asia. The forum is organised by the Supreme Council for Science and Technology under President of Turkmenistan.

The meeting will bring together the representatives of the authoritative international organisations, the scientists from the Eurasian universities, the IT specialists from Caucasus and Central Asia, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Slovakia, Turkey, Poland, the Netherlands, Russia, Belarus and Afghanistan. The representatives of the partner organisations included into the Turkmen science-educational network will be invited to the sitting.

The participants will discuss the issues of development of the Turkmen science-educational network, modernisation and expansion of the Internet network in the partner countries and present the reports on the work done in the period. The agenda items will include the topical aspects of further co-operation, intensification of scientific research and experience exchange standing as an important component of the Science for Peace Programme.

Intense interest in intensifying the Turkmenistan-NATO constructive dialogue was proved during the talks between President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer held in Brussels last week. The Turkmen leader emphasizes that the Turkmen partners were ready to develop mutually advantageous co-operation basing on the profound experience of partnership and priorities of the national development aiming at improving national science and education. In this regard the Virtual Silk Highway Projects successfully exemplifies fruitful interaction.

The forthcoming forum is to serve as another step towards enhancement of regional and international co-operation in the spheres of culture, science and Internet technologies