Belarus eager to expand cooperation with Hungary in science, technology

MINSK, 13 April (BelTA) – Belarus is interested in expanding cooperation with Hungary in science and technology and is interested in increasing mutual trade in high-tech products. Deputy Chairwoman of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus Tatiana Stolyarova mentioned it at a session of the Belarus-Hungary commission on economic cooperation in Budapest, the committee's press service told BelTA.

In order to implement previously reached agreements and resume bilateral interaction, an initiative was put forward in favor of organizing the third session of the Belarus-Hungary working group on scientific and technical cooperation in 2023. Tatiana Stolyarova also suggested organizing a contest of Belarusian-Hungarian scientific and technical projects and defining the timing and conditions of the contest at the regular session of the working group.

Bilateral interaction in science, technology, and innovations is based on the memorandum of understanding that the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus and the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NRDI) of Hungary signed in 2013. A working group was set up in 2016 to coordinate cooperation. In 2015-2022 organizations from Belarus and Hungary partnered up for 13 projects in such fields as information and communication technologies, new materials, instrument making and other ones.

Tatiana Stolyarova also said that the number of joint scientific publications by Belarusian and Hungarian authors quadrupled in the last ten years. According to the international database Scopus, about 200 articles are published every year on the average.

Apart from that, a number of agreements on cooperation between Belarusian and Hungarian scientific institutions are in effect. For instance, those are an agreement between the academies of sciences, an agreement between Belarusian State University and the Geography Institute of the Research Center for Astronomy and Earth Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of Hungary. “All of it indicates there are prospects for advancing cooperation between our countries,” the deputy chairwoman of the State Committee on Science and Technology of Belarus noted.