A meeting of a regular committee on the cooperation of JINR with the Republic of Armenia was held in Yerevan.

On 28 – 30 October, JINR Vice-Director Mikhail Itkis headed a JINR delegation at the meeting of the Committee on Cooperation (CC). Members of the Committee discussed a wide range of issues relating to cooperation development, including joint training of young scientific staff members. One of the key issues discussed at the Committee was the continuation of the support of joint work on the Precision Laser Inclinometer (PLI).

In particular, on 28 October, the JINR delegation visited the underground laboratory of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia in Garni where one PLI successfully operates in the tunnel of the Garni Geophysical Observatory. The JINR delegation was welcomed by Acting Director of the Regional Survey for Seismic Protection of MES RA Sos Margaryan.

On 29 October, in the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA), plans for the creation of the PLI network in Armenia was discussed. The discussion was chaired by academicians-secretary of the Division of Chemistry and Earth Sciences of NAS RA L. A. Tavadyan and the Division of Mathematical and Technical Sciences of NAS RA L. A. Agalovyan. The main speakers were Director of the Institute of Geophysics and Engineering Seismology of NAS RA (IGES) John Karapetyan and Director of the Shirak Technologies (SHTE, Yerevan) Avetik Yesayan. SHTE is a company participating in the development of the hardware-software control complex for PLI. At the end of the seminar, President of NAS RA R. M. Martirosyan met with its participants. A day later, the delegation visited IGES in Gyumri and the IGES Geophysical Observatory in Gyulagarak where necessary conditions had been already created to place the elements of the future PLI network.

In the Yerevan Physics Institute, the JINR delegation was welcomed by Deputy Director of the Institute Gevorg Karyan. At the workshop, the parties discussed the development of international contacts and the YePI scientific infrastructure, as well as opportunities for the revival of active cooperation with JINR. The delegation got acquainted with the modernized equipment of the electronic linear accelerator (LUE-75). Over the past four years (2015 – 2019), a group of DLNP staff members carried out calibration with the CsJ crystals for the electromagnetic calorimeter of the Mu2e experiment (Fermilab, USA). This is another successful project supported by the CC.

The milestones of the CC were summed up at the meeting with Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Republic of Armenia in JINR, Chairman of the State Committee of Science Samvel Harutyunyan who, in particular, shared plans to enhance cooperation with JINR and offered to hold a scientific conference on these issues at convenient for both parties time. The Directorate of the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics visited Yerevan simultaneously with the CC meeting.