MINSK, 29 May (BelTA) - Belarus is interested in joint scientific and technical projects with Hungary, Deputy Chairperson of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus Tatyana Stolyarova said at a meeting of the Belarusian-Hungarian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation on 29 May, BelTA has learned.
In 2023, Belarusian exports of hi-tech goods to Hungary amounted to more than half of Belarus’ sales to Hungary. Industrial equipment made the largest amount. “We express interest in expanding cooperation in science and technology and increasing mutual trade of hi-tech products,” Tatyana Stolyarova said.
Bilateral cooperation in science, technology and innovation rests on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus and the National Research, Development and Innovation Office of Hungary (formerly the National Innovation Office). The document provides for joint project activities in the areas of scientific research prioritized by both parties, as well as joint scientific and technical events. In 2016, a working group featuring representatives of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus and the National Research, Development and Innovation Office of Hungary was established to coordinate cooperation. The last meeting of the working group was held in March 2021.
“In order to intensify bilateral cooperation, we propose to organize a meeting of the Belarusian-Hungarian working group on scientific and technical cooperation in 2024. The meeting can help consider in detail the options of interaction in promising areas of cooperation, including energy research, medicine, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, chemical technologies and new materials. As an effective mechanism of such cooperation, we suggest considering the possibility of holding a contest of Belarusian-Hungarian scientific and technical projects in promising areas, and discuss the details at the meeting of the working group,” the deputy chairperson of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus said.
According to her, until recently the main platforms for cooperation between scientists of the two countries were the European Union's programs on science and innovation. In 2015-2022, organizations from Belarus and Hungary were partners in 13 projects of the Horizon 2020 program in such areas as information and communication technologies, new materials, instrumentation and others. Over the past 10 years, the number of joint scientific publications by Belarusian and Hungarian authors has quadrupled. According to the SCOPUS international database, an average of about 200 articles have been published annually over the past years.
There are a number of cooperation agreements between Belarusian and Hungarian scientific organizations. This is an agreement between the academies of sciences (2003), an agreement between the Belarusian State University and the Geographical Institute Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2014), and a number of others. “All this indicates that there are prospects for the development of cooperation between our countries,” Tatyana Stolyarova stressed.
