A new ISSN Regional Centre to be set up in Eurasia

A meeting was organized on April 3rd and 4th, 2017 at the National Library of Kazakhstan in Almaty between representatives of the ISSN International Centre, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation to discuss the terms under which a Regional Centre could be set up at the Russian ISSN Centre with the Book Chamber of Belarus and the National Library of Kazakhstan signing agreements with the Russian ISSN Centre. The Book Chamber of Belarus and the National Library of Kazakhstan have been attempting for several years to join the ISSN network but the two organizations have faced some administrative issues preventing them to be officially appointed by their governments. The Book Chamber of Russia became the 89^th ISSN National Centre in 2015 after the official accession of Russia to the statutes of the ISSN International Centre. The Book Chamber of Belarus and the National Library of Kazakhstan are both convinced that serial publications published in their countries need to be better identified at the international level. They would like to enhance and speed up ISSN assignment to their national publications which are dealt with by the ISSN International Centre by getting more involved in the process. A formal agreement should be signed before September 2017.