The All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance is the result of science diplomacy which aim at enhancing marine research and innovation cooperation along and across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Arctic to Antarctica. The Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance between the European Union, Canada and the United States was launched with the signature of the Galway Statement in May 2013. Its success, together with existing initiatives that were already being implemented between various partners in the South Atlantic, was seen as an opportunity towards an ambitious cooperation addressing the challenges of the Atlantic as a whole. Since then, cooperation was enhanced culminating in the signing of the Belém Statement in July 2017 between the European Union, Brazil, and South Africa. In 2018, the European Commission then signed bilateral Administrative Arrangements with Argentina and Cabo Verde.

Taking a systemic approach to the challenges and opportunities offered by the Atlantic Ocean, we are now expanding to an All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance. Lead by the AANChOR CSA, various EU-funded marine research projects, including ASTRAL are contributing to the construction of the All-Atlantic Ocean Research Community, a growing group of ocean science institutions, research and innovation projects, and various Atlantic-related initiatives that contribute to increase our knowledge on the whole Atlantic basin and to manage it in a more sustainable way.