On 28 June 2019, a regular meeting of the mixed Russian-German commission on scientific and technical cooperation was held. The commission was established 10 years ago in the frames of the Agreement signed on scientific and technical cooperation of two countries. Co-chairmen of the meeting, which gathered more than 70 experts from Russia and Germany, were First Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Grigory Trubnikov and State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) Georg Schütte.

JINR Director Academician Victor Matveev, JINR Vice-Director, VBLHEP Director Vladimir Kekelidze, and JINR Chief Scientific Secretary Alexander Sorin represented the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at the meeting.

Exchange of up-to-date information on issues of state scientific and technical policy of Russia and Germany was held at the meeting. The parties were glad to note a positive dynamics in cooperation of Russia and Germany as well as a considerable interest of scientific and educational communities of two countries in the further development of the bilateral scientific and technical cooperation. Participants of the meeting highlighted that cooperation based on the Agreement mentioned above greatly contributes to the development of Russian-German relations as a whole.

At the meeting, the parties discussed the progress in and plans for further implementation of the Road Map for the Russian-German cooperation in the fields of education, science, research, and innovations. The Road Map, which was signed on 10 December 2018 in Moscow, regulates scientific and technological cooperation of two countries in the next decade.

The parties confirmed the necessity to maintain constant scientific dialogue between Russia and Germany. It was highlighted that both Ministries are intended to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of education, science, technologies, and innovations as well as to pursue opportunities for the development and extension of bilateral international cooperation in the fields of science.

Following the results of the meeting, Grigory Trubnikov and Georg Schütte signed the “Berlin Ministerial Declaration of Intent”. The Document fixes the mutual interest of both parties to develop cooperation in the frames of the PIC and NICA projects, in particular, in the creation of the International Organization for the use of neutrons in research.

It was decided to hold the next meeting of the Mixed Russian-German Commission for scientific and technical cooperation in Russia in 2020. The progress of implementation of the Road Map will be constantly coordinated by a specially established working group of Minobrnauki and BMBF. Moreover, a Russian-German scientific forum is planned to be held in 2019 at which the Road Map for cooperation of Russia and Germany will be presented to the general public.

A day earlier, on 27 June, an official opening ceremony of the start of the implementation of the Road Map for cooperation in Education, Science, Research, and Innovations took place in Berlin at which Grigory Trubnikov and Georg Schütte welcomed the audience. Representatives of scientific organizations, universities, and Russian and German foundations took part in the ceremony. At the event, young scientists of two countries presented to the audience their projects being conducted in the fields of the Road Map, particularly, “Large scale research infrastructure”, “Priorities”, “Young talents”, “Innovations, science, and society”. Furthermore, an exhibition was organized in the frames of the event that acquainted visitors with successful examples of the scientific and technical cooperation of Russian, German, and international organizations. A considerable part of the exhibition was dedicated to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research the activities of which were presented at five information stands as well as in booklets.

It should be reminded that on 6 December 2018, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Maas and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov opened the joint Russian-German Year of scientific-educational partnership 2018-2020 that would be held under the motto “Cooperation in the fields of Higher Education and Science”.

Photos by Minobrnauki and JINR