MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia will draft a new intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in science and technology. This matter was discussed at the meeting of Chairman of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus Aleksandr Shumilin with Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Valery Falkov, BelTA learned from the press service of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus.
The effective agreement between Belarus and Russia was signed in 1996 and, in the opinion of the parties, needs to be updated. “We live in a rapidly changing world, in the world of high technology and information. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent social upheavals, many innovative solutions have become more relevant than ever before. What is now commonplace was non-existent in the late 1990s. Therefore, it is necessary to come up with progressive legislation in the field of digitalization in order to keep pace with changes, new trends and technologies that are making inroads into all areas of our life, including the academic field,” Aleksandr Shumilin said.
The parties also discussed implementation of the Union State science and technology programs in the priority areas of cooperation, including joint projects in the field of space, medicine and biotechnology, information and communication technology, new materials and equipment, additive technologies, just to name a few. The Union State is running the following sci-tech programs in 2021: Development of the Hydrometeorological Security System of the Union State, DNA Identification, Compound Feed-SG, Integration-SG.
The parties agreed to hold the next meeting of the commission on the formation of the common science and technology space by the end of 2021.
