TEHRAN – Syrian Minister of Higher Education Bassam Ibrahim and Iranian Ambassador to Damascus Mahdi Sobhani discussed joint cooperation on education and scientific research.

In a meeting held in Damascus on Tuesday, Ibrahim emphasized the need for implementing the memorandums of understanding signed between the two countries, holding joint seminars, and conferences as well as exchanging experiences, scientific visits, and joint scientific projects between Iranian and Syrian universities.

Sobhani, for his part, expressed readiness to strengthen scientific cooperation between the two countries and start joint work and activities in precise scientific fields and form joint committees to pursue all issues that serve the interests of the two countries.

Science diplomacy at the highest level

Data from the Scopus International Citation Database show that Iran’s scientific diplomacy has reached more than 34 percent since the beginning of 2021, the highest level in the past 20 years.

The two sides highlighted holding joint seminars and conferences as well as joint scientific projects.

Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and build constructive international partnerships. It is a form of new diplomacy and has become an umbrella term to describe a number of formal or informal technical, research-based, academic, or engineering exchanges, within the general field of international relations.

Comparing the rate of 2020 with 2019, Iran with a growth of 12.5 percent and with a slight difference from India has gained second place in the world in terms of the growth of world science diplomacy, Mohammad Javad Dehghani, head of the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC), said.

In 2011, the share of Iranian articles with international participation was about 16.5 percent, which increased to 19.7 percent in 2016 and gradually in the following years, so that in 2020 and 2021, reached 30.5 and 34.2 percent, respectively, he added.

The share of Iranian articles with international participation has had significant growth of 209 percent during an eight-year period (2013-2020), becoming the Islamic world’s leading country in science diplomacy, according to the Scopus International Citation Database.

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