President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ASU) Shavkat Ayupov paid a working visit to JINR this week. Academician Ayupov participated in a JINR Finance Committee meeting, a session of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of the JINR Member States, and meetings with JINR Director, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Trubnikov and members of the Institute’s Directorate. Manager of the COMET Project (J-PARC) Satoshi Mihara and a member of the JINR-Mexico Joint Coordination Committee Alejandro Ayala took part in the visit.

Grigory Trubnikov noted the Institute’s strong ties with scientific organizations and educational institutions of Uzbekistan, the establishment of which was supported by Academician Bekhzod Yuldashev, who was the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Uzbekistan at JINR for many years. The JINR Director added that over the past few years, the interest of young scientists of Uzbekistan in participating in the Institute’s research and educational programmes has been increasing. To expand cooperation, JINR is ready to support bilateral funding of academic mobility.

In his speech, Shavkat Ayupov stressed that the Joint Institute has always been a reliable partner for ASU, and a number of well-known scientists of Uzbekistan worked at JINR and defended dissertations based on the results of research they carried out at the Institute. The Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan has gone through a difficult period, and now the primary task is to attract young people to science and enhance the prestige of the profession of a researcher. Due to the Government of Uzbekistan’s recent decision to build a nuclear power plant, training personnel for the Republic’s nuclear power industry is an urgent and important issue.

The parties stressed the need to deepen cooperation. Among other things, the JINR Days in Uzbekistan, scheduled for April this year with the support of ASU, will contribute to this goal. The event will be attended by scientists representing all JINR laboratories. Its programme includes meetings at the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation, and visits to academic institutes and universities of Uzbekistan.

Shavkat Ayupov, along with representatives of the Member States and guests of the CP session, took part in the ceremonial initiation of the first run at the NICA Accelerator Complex and visited JINR’s laboratories to get acquainted with the IBR-2 Pulsed Reactor, Govorun Supercomputer, and other main facilities.