On 23 – 24 November, a session of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries (CP) of JINR was held in Egypt. Holding of the CP JINR session in Egypt commemorates a year since the status of this country in the Institute increased to a full-fledged JINR Member State. At the session, its participants discussed the scientific results of the Institute. In addition, the members of the CP JINR approved the draft of the Seven-Year Plan for the Development of JINR in 2024 – 2030.

Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE) in JINR, President of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology of Egypt (ASRT) Mahmoud Sakr addressed participants with a welcoming speech. “The current CP session is historic. The Institute unites states and scientific communities of the world. It helps Egypt and Africa in general develop innovation and research ecosystems. We believe that international cooperation will be the key to addressing global challenges,” he highlighted. In addition, he expressed hope that ASRT would continue to be a reliable partner of JINR in achieving these goals. Mahmoud Sakr also welcomed participants of the session on behalf of Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Egypt Muhammad Ashour and the Egyptian cabinet.

The CP elected Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of Georgia in JINR, Director of the Institute of Quantum Physics and Engineering Technologies of Georgian Technical University Arsen Khvedelidze as the new Chairman of the Committee. The CP members thanked Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of Romania in JINR Florin-Dorian Buzatu for the three-year period of chairing the CP sessions.

Huang Wei, Director of the Division of Planning, Information, and Knowledge Management at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Director General of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency (AAEA) Salem Hamdi took part in the CP session as honoured guests.

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Huang Wei sent greetings to participants of the meeting and highlighted the importance of the updated agreement between the IAEA and JINR, which the organizations signed in September. “The Institute is rich in bright scientific results, many outstanding scientists work at JINR. The agreement expands the areas of joint activities, and work is already underway on new projects,” he said.

Participants of the session were also welcomed by Director General of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency (AAEA) Salem Hamdi, who noted, “Under its motto “Science brings nations together” JINR is a unique example of a world scientific centre that successfully combines fundamental research, the latest technologies, and high-quality education. AAEA sees JINR as a key partner that has global recognition in nuclear sciences.” He also noted the prospects for JINR-AAEA cooperation in training highly qualified staff.

JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov spoke in his report about the scientific results of this year and the current seven-year period 2017 – 2023, which were highly appreciated at the meeting. Grigory Trubnikov for the first time presented to the CP members the draft of the Seven-Year Plan for the Development of JINR in 2024 – 2030. JINR Plenipotentiary Representatives noted that the document fully corresponded to the architecture and logic of the JINR Long-Term Development Strategy up to 2030 and beyond, as well as represented an ambitious competitive international scientific programme. The final version of the new Plan will be presented at the next CP session in March 2023.

In the area of international cooperation, the CP members highly appreciated the Institute’s efforts in working with partner countries and the desire to raise the status of their participation in JINR, in particular, with Brazil, India, Israel, Mexico, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea, etc. Participants also considered the reports by JINR Vice-Director Latchesar Kostov on the participation of Member States in the Institute’s activities. In addition, the Committee members supported the initiatives of holding international scientific forums and joint scientific and educational events of JINR with partners under the auspices of IYBSSD and IUPAP in 2023.

JINR Chief Scientific Secretary Sergey Nedelko presented proposal for a new membership of the Scientific Council for the next five years. It received the unanimous support of the JINR Plenipotentiaries. New members of the Scientific Council will take the office starting from the 133rd session of the JINR Scientific Council in February 2023.

Within the CP session, a new platform “Digital JINR Ecosystem” was presented. It is supposed to ensure the integration of already existing and promising services to support scientific, administrative, and social activities, as well as support the engineering and IT infrastructures of the Institute. The CP JINR Members approved the JINR Topical Plan for 2023 and the Regulations for the Cooperation Programmes and Grants of Plenipotentiaries of the Institute. Participants of the session considered the results of the Finance Committee meeting and approved the JINR budget for the next year. Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt, ASRT President Mahmoud Sakr made a scientific report in which he spoke about the activities of the Egyptian Academy.

JINR Director, RAS Academician Grigory Trubnikov commented on the milestones of the CP session in Egypt, “Today we laid the foundation of the next seven-year period of the Institute. Both, at the meeting of the Finance Committee and the session of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries, there were discussions not only about the scientific programme but also about the Institute’s structure. Everything we have discussed today, the decisions we have made will allow the family of the Joint Institute to expand and begin the new seven-year period in 2024 without losing a pace we gained in 2017 – 2023. It should be maintained so that we make the period 2024 – 2030 even brighter. It requires support of the Member States, Associate Members, and partner countries of the Institute. And I believe that we will have it.”

Mahmoud Sakr, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of Egypt in JINR, highlighted the importance of the full-fledged membership in the Institute, “Full-fledged participation in the Institute makes central core facilities of JINR accessible for the Egyptian scholars. We already have an action plan for scientific research in Egypt mainly focused on genetic and radiobiological studies. We will surely build it on the research capabilities available at JINR to support and to foster the implementation of this national project. Similarly we are now focusing on fundamental research. There is a proposal to establish a National Academy of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. I believe that our full membership in JINR will support our national proposals.”

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New Chairman of the CP session Arsen Khvedelidze commented on the results of discussions at the event, “Today’s meeting has demonstrated the ability to find particular compromises that show that the phenomena taking place now are not irreversible. There is always a chance to find possible options to solve the problems. My priority would be to find those ways of development that would allow the Institute to reach a new level in the time of change.”

Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia and new Chairman of the JINR Finance Committee Andrey Omelchuk commented on the events in Egypt, “The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research is an important point of the international scientific cooperation on the map of the world. It does not only participates in already working scientific collaborations but creates new ones.

Last year, Egypt became a full-fledged JINR Member State, which continued the cooperation that started in the middle of the last century. Technological and intellectual capacity of the country contributes to the development of applied and fundamental science, as well as the strengthening of international links, including with countries of North Africa, Middle East, and Arab regions. Colleagues have already made their contribution to the joint with the Institute projects and studies.

The equipment of the Institute with the research infrastructure is regarded as a rival in the international arena. Despite the difficulties in the field of international scientific and technical cooperation, work is underway due to the schedule at the NICA Megascience Facility, the Superheavy Element Factory, the Baikal-GVD Neutrino Telescope, the IBR-2 Pulsed Neutron Source, and other objects.

The launch of the NICA collider next year, the construction of which is possible thanks to the Nauka i Universitety Project (lit. Science and Universities), will be an important event for scholars from all over the world. This will allow answering one of the main questions of science: how the Universe was created. All of the above forms the basis, the potential of the Institute, which allows it, with the support of the Member States, to conduct research with dignity and be a point of attraction for talented scientists from all over the world.”