On 6 June, the JINR International Conference Hall hosted a joint meeting of the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia on Economic Policy and the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly on Budget and Finance chaired by Victor Seliverstov (Belarus) and Sergey Mitin (Russia). Members of the commissions, representatives of financial and control bodies of both states took part in the meeting. The delegation of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus that arrived in JINR for a visit participated in the meeting. One of the main issues on the agenda was the discussion of the conclusion of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus of the report by the Council of Ministers of the Union State on the execution of the Union State budget for 2021. One of the main topics of discussion was the formation of the Union budget and the formation of Union programmes.

JINR Director RAS Academician Grigory Trubnikov welcomed guests at the opening of the meeting. “Belarus has been at the origins of the Institute and its scientific programme from the very first days, participated in the creation of the main JINR facilities and became a bridge for many countries whose envoys participate in the Institute’s work,” he noted. The Director presented six main areas that make up the JINR scientific programme and unique basic facilities that provide competitiveness of research conducted in Dubna, including innovative areas. Grigory Trubnikov emphasised that JINR’s contribution to the development of the economy and social development of Russia and Belarus was not only in achieving bright fundamental results and innovative, applied developments, but also in enhancing human capital. “Every year more than 800 young people from many countries of the world study at the Institute, including about 100 young scientists of your country. Thus, we train highly educated staff for many countries who can find themselves in the most popular professions. You can always count on our capabilities and resources of our Institute,” the JINR Director highlighted.

Among the projects considered at the meeting there was the development of the programme of the Union State “Accelerator Complex based on superconducting resonators” (SCR Accelerator). It was reported by Sergey Mitin, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, and Leonid Brich, NAS of Belarus. The Joint Institute is one of the participants in the draft programme under consideration. Commenting on discussions, Alexander Shumilin, the Academician-Secretary of the Department of Physics, Mathematics and Informatics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus highlighted the importance of involving parliamentarians in promoting such developments, as well as building a dialogue between them and scientists.

In his speech, Alexander Shumilin also spoke about the plans of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus to launch a joint with JINR production of high-tech superconducting resonators. He highlighted that pooling experience gained in the course of international projects and the experience of Belarusian scientific organizations with technologies of high-precision metalworking, production of new materials and radio electronics, would significantly advance the creation of production of superconducting accelerating resonators. Superconducting accelerating resonators are widely used in the world and have broad prospects for scientific research in the fields ranging from materials science to astrophysics, medicine, for the radioisotope development, doping of semiconductor materials, etc. According to Alexander Shumilin, prospects for expanding cooperation between the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and JINR, in addition to fundamental research, lie in information technologies, nuclear research, radiobiology, medicine, bio- and nanotechnology.

Participants of the meeting emphasised that the approximation of legislation of Russia and Belarus, defined in 28 union programmes, would be able to actively contribute to the union budget formation.

The delegation of the academic and research sector together with A. G. Shumilin consisted of Director of the State Scientific Institution B. I. Stepanov Institute of Physics of NAS of Belarus M. V. Bogdanovich, Director of the Minsk Research Institute of Radiomaterials Yu. M. Kernasouski, Director of the Government agency “Centre for Geophysical Monitoring of NAS of Belarus” G. A. Aronov, Director of the Institute of Mathematics of NAS of Belarus” S. V. Lemeshevsky, Deputy Director for Scientific Work, Head of the Research and Production Centre “Technology” of the Minsk Research Institute of Radiomaterials A. A. Pavlyuchik, Deputy Head of the Center “Fundamental interactions and astrophysics” of B. I. Stepanov Institute of Physics of NAS of Belarus D. V. Schelkovy, Chief Researcher of the Government agency “Centre for Geophysical Monitoring of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus” А. G. Aronov.

At the end of the meeting, participants visited the JINR interactive exhibition in the JINR Cultural Centre “Mir”, got acquainted with the NICA complex in the Laboratory of High Energy Physics. In addition, guests visited the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, and the Laboratory of Neutron Physics.

Besides, the visit programme included a meeting of Heads of Belarus scientific centres with the JINR Director and working meetings with colleagues from Dubna: Directors of laboratories and JINR leading specialists.