On 12 September 2022, within the 28th International Conference on Nuclear Physics (INPC 2022) in Cape Town, the 21st meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) on Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research was held.

JINR Director RAS Academician Grigory Trubnikov headed the delegation of the Joint Institute at the event. Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation (NRF) Clifford Nxomani co-chaired the South African party.

The JINR party was represented by Head of the International Cooperation Department Dmitry Kamanin, Special Representative of the JINR Director for Cooperation with International and Russian Scientific Organizations RAS Academician Boris Sharkov, Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics Nikolai Antonenko, and Head of the Group of South African Employees at JINR Arnoux Rossouw. The meeting was joined online by Chief Scientific Secretary Sergey Nedelko, Director of the JINR University Centre Stanislav Pakuliak, Secretary of the Joint Coordination Committee Anna Kotova, as well as invited experts Head of the Group of Radioactive Nuclei Beams of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions Semen Mitrofanov and Head of the SPD Collaboration Alexey Guskov.

The Committee meeting was devoted to a number of topical issues of the bilateral agenda. The Committee focused on the current work on joint projects and the upcoming competition for new ones, student practices in 2023 and the SAINTS Summer School, which will be held full-time again in January, issues of financing and management structure of joint projects.

The central issue of the Committee was the discussion of the strategy for the development of cooperation and, in particular, strategic-level projects. The first two such projects on accelerator technologies and radiobiology were approved during the meeting. The other three projects on the participation of RSA in the SPD, information technologies, and an electron beam radiochemical laboratory will be discussed at the next work meeting of the Committee in October-November. The parties also made significant progress on the opening of the JINR Information Centre in South Africa, which is expected to appear at the National Cyclotron Laboratory iThemba LABS.

In conclusion, the Committee noted the beginning of establishing contacts between scientists who had resumed trips in both directions interrupted during the pandemic. The further building of contacts will be facilitated by the programme of joint events planned for the next year. In particular, the next South Africa-JINR Bilateral Conference and a Workshop on Theoretical Physics are scheduled. And at the end of this year, a notable group of participants from JINR is expected at the traditional conference “Workshop on Discovery Physics at the LHC” held at the Kruger National Park.