Dr.Mustapha Mokrane of ICSU’s Scientific Data and Information activities visited Polar Data Center of NIPR on 3rd February, 2012. He discussed with the staff of PDC as for the NIPR database, IPY management, as well as about cooperaiton strategy fo the newly established World Data System (WDS) under ICSU.

As Executive Director, Mokrane will head the WDS International Programme Office (IPO) from early March 2012, which is hosted by the Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Tokyo.

The Office is to manage and coordinate the establishment and operations of the WDS, and take responsibility for outreach and promotional activities, under the guidance of the ICSU WDS Scientific Committee.