On 12 September 2017, a delegation of leaders of JINR arrived in Almaty for participation in the International Scientific Forum «Nuclear Science and Technologies» dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The anniversary Forum that was held on 12 – 15 September in Alatau, combined a number of significant scientific events: the 11th International Conference «Nuclear and radiation physics», the International Conference «Nucleus-2017» and the 8th Eurasian Conference «Nuclear Science and its Application». According to the local organizing committee, over 300 participants registered for the conference, 200 of them came from foreign countries, of which 38 are representatives of JINR, not counting the delegation of leaders of the Institute. Scientific events of the Forum covered a wide range of scientific topics, as it was reflected in 496 abstracts sent to the organizing committee of the Forum during its preparation.

On 14 September, a festive meeting dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the INP was held in the frames of the Forum. JINR Vice-Director M.G. Itkis was among the first who congratulated the ‘sister’ Institute. In his speech he noted that the INP has made an outstanding contribution to the development of nuclear physics in Kazakhstan and in the Soviet Union in general; and now the INP takes an active role in the development of cooperation with JINR.

A business programme of the work of the Dubna delegation in the INP was devoted to another important date – the 25th anniversary of the participation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in JINR as an independent state. The guests were acquainted with the recently opened Nuclear Security Training Center; the delegation visited the experimental hall of the WWR-K reactor, as well as the new infrastructure: the hall of the Cyclone-30 accelerator and the facility for radiation sterilization on the basis of the ILU-10 electron accelerator. INP Director General, Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to JINR E.A. Kenzhin, leaders of nuclear science of Kazakhstan and Kazakh young scientists met with the JINR delegation at the round table meeting devoted to strategic planning of collaboration between INP and JINR. A meeting of the INP and JINR leaders with the President of the Nuclear Society of Kazakhstan, appointed Adviser to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan V.S. Shkolnik concluded the business programme of the Dubna delegation.

The receiving party also organized team building activities in spare time – an international team of JINR-INP reached the platform at an altitude of 3200 meters to jointly admire the majestic mountains and the stunning panorama of Almaty. On 15 September, the JINR delegation completed its work and departed to Dubna.

At present, there are 70 specialists of Kazakhstan, including 15 students, working at JINR. Their assignment and activities at JINR are coordinated by the newly established Single Scientific-Educational Center “Dubna” on the basis of INP headed by Director of the Astana branch of the INP M.V. Zdorovets, who was elected to the JINR Scientific Council.