Luis Eliécer Cadenas, executive director of RedCLARA and co-chair of the BELLA Consortium, and José Palacios, president of REUNA, met, together with Luz Miriam Díaz Patigño, executive director of RENATA, with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies and the Ministry of National Education of Colombia to share the progress of the BELLA project.

The project Building the Europe Link with Latin America, BELLA, aims to cover the long-term interconnectivity needs of the European and Latin American research and education communities through a direct submarine cable between the two continents. BELLA will include the deployment of a dedicated network for research and education of multiples of 100 Gbps capacity up to an approximate maximum of 1,000 Gbps (1 Tbps) throughout Latin America. The project includes efforts to strengthen the collaborative activity between the research and education communities in Latin America and Europe.

The Colombian community of researchers and educators will benefit from the most important academic and scientific connectivity project between Europe and Latin America thanks to the participation of the National Academic Network of Advanced Technology, RENATA, in the integrated consortium for the implementation of the submarine cable that, in a large portion of its capacity, will be dedicated to the development of scientific, educational and innovation activities between the two regions.

The European Commission will allocate 26.5 million euros to this project, which is expected to be completed in 2020, and which is developed through a consortium made up of continental networks of Europe (GÉANT) and Latin America (RedCLARA) together with national research and education networks from France (RENATER), Germany (DFN), Italy (GARR), Portugal (FCCN), Spain (RedIRIS), Colombia (RENATA), Brazil (RNP), Chile (REUNA) and Ecuador (CEDIA).

The international delegation will be joined by Eduardo Grizendi, director of Engineering and Operations of RNP, and Raúl Galarza, administrative director of CEDIA, who will participate on Friday 9 November in the presentation of the BELLA project before the media and the Colombian academic community. The activity will be transmitted through Facebook Live @RENATAColombia.