Kingdom of Morocco, Africa – a new area of cooperation of the Laverov Center

On July 29, 2024, the Cooperation Agreements between the N.P. Laverov’ Center and two Universities from Kingdom of Morocco – the University of Sidi Mohammed ben Abdellah (Fès) and University of Mohamed the First (Oujda) – come into force.

                           

 

The priority area of cooperation is research on freshwater invertebrates, primarily mollusks, their endosymbionts and parasites; the partners also plan to interact on issues related to the conservation of freshwater and marine wetlands; assessment of biodiversity, development and promotion of initiatives in the field of specially protected natural areas and waters, fisheries management; coastal processes.

 

Coordinator of cooperation under the Agreement on the part of FECIAR UB RAS, Director of the Institute of Biogeography and Genetic Resources Yulia Bespalaya said that the collaboration with Moroccan colleagues was started by joint work on taxonomy, distribution and evolutionary biogeography of an important group of bivalve mollusks of the subfamily Sphaeriinae based on data from around the world, including material from the African continent. Four species new to science were described, one of them from Morocco – Euglesa moroccana (Bespalaya, Vinarski, Aksenova, Mabrouki, Kondakov, Palatov, 2024). Currently, together with African colleagues, a new work is being prepared on the taxonomic revision of bivalves of the genus Corbicula.

 

Research on this topic is of great practical importance for aquaculture and fisheries, since representatives of Sphaeriinae play a key role in the flow of energy and nutrient cycling in aquatic ecosystems. Mollusks of this group are a food resource for organisms of higher trophic levels, including valuable fish species.

 

The goals and objectives of the new partnership of the Laverov Center are fully consistent with the provisions of the Declaration of the Second Russia-Africa Summit from July 28, 2023 and the Action Plan of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum for 2023–2026 regarding such priorities as the development of joint research projects, academic exchanges, interaction on studying and combating climate change, drought and desertification, strengthening ties in the fields of agriculture and forestry, aquaculture, medicine and parasitology. Cooperation between FECIAR UB RAS and universities of this country will serve to further strengthening of Russian-Moroccan relations, the history of which goes back almost 250 years.

 

FECIAR UB RAS* sincerely thanks colleagues from the University of Sidi Mohammed ben Abdellah (President Mustapha Ijjaali) and University of Mohamed the First (President Yassine ZARHLOULE) for the interest in cooperation, wishes the university staff success in educational and scientific activities and expresses confidence in the successful and fruitful implementation of the Agreement.

* Since July 1, 2024, FECIAR UB RAS is a member of the Consortium «Russian-African Network University» (RAFU). Today it is the only association uniting potentials of research institutions and universities in the Russian Federation and African countries. The general coordination of the activities of RAFU is carried out by the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. The coordinating university of RAFU until 2026 is Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (Rector – Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician Andrey Rudskoy).