UNIVERSITY of Malaya (UM) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)with universities in Africa and Asia to strengthen collaboration between tertiary institutions of the two continents on poverty eradication and sustainable development.

The MOU took place at the end of a workshop titled A Partnership for Making Science Work for the Poor organised by UM. The workshop was organised by the Africa-Asia Development University Network (AADUN).

In collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, the objective of AADUN is to promote research in advocating society building measures and attainment of sustainable development.

Present at the workshop were representatives from six African countries and four Asian countries. Africa was represented by Algeria, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Asia was represented by India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

UM Vice Chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim says that the MOU will help tremendously towards eradicating poverty.
"UM takes poverty eradication seriously. We hope through collaborations such as this, we can help combat poverty in the South-South countries. With the resources that the universities have, we can come up with ideas and strategies to deal with poverty and sustainable development," she says.

AADUN was formed after an Africa-Asia conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 2005. The conference called for the strengthening of intellectual ties between Asia and Africa.

It proposed to develop a network among universities, libraries and research institutions to cope with globalisation, and develop and share relevant technologies.