On 28 January, a meeting “Opportunities for Chile-JINR cooperation” between representatives of the Chilean scientific community and heads of the Institute was held in a video conference format. The goal of the meeting was to discuss possible ways for extending access of Chilean research organizations and universities to the Institute’s research infrastructure and participation in its studies.

Ariel Orellana, Vice-Rector of Andrés Bello National University (UNAB), organized the event and headed the Chilean party. 29 participants from 8 organizations represented the Chilean party, and 11 participants took part from the JINR side. Vice-Director Boris Sharkov and Chief Scientific Secretary Alexander Sorin represented the JINR Directorate.

Boris Sharkov in his review report briefly presented information on the basic facilities of JINR and their research programmes. FLNP Deputy Director Norbert Kučerka reported on the user programme of the IBR-2 research reactor, and UC Director Stanislav Pakuliak presented the training programmes. The specialists also spoke about opportunities for considerable enhancement of interaction in near future. Head of the JINR International Cooperation Department Dmitry Kamanin, a co-organizer of the event, presented a report on the current state and development plans of international cooperation. At the initiative of Ariel Orellana, he proposed to systemize efforts of both parties on cooperation development by organizing a bilateral council.

Information about JINR and its opportunities presented at the meeting initiated a discussion on a wide range of issues. In particular, LRB Director Alexander Bugay, FLNR Deputy Director Grzegorz Kaminski took part in the discussion. Moreover, LIT Deputy Director Tatiana Strizh and BLTP Deputy Director Mikhail Hnatič were ready to make comments. At the meeting, participants noted several times that new initiatives are based on an extensive experience of the existing cooperation both in the frames of joint activities at the CERN site and on the basis of studies on JINR own themes. In particular, this experience in the fields of theoretical physics already has a many-year history.

At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to find out possible contact points and the membership of the proposed council from both parties, as well as decide on the priority fields of studies for new cooperation lines. The parties will discuss further steps for this direction in March 2021.