Belarus, Russia in talks over 17 new research projects

Belarus and Russia are discussing a possibility to implement 17 new projects in science, Chairman of the State Committee for Science and Technology of Belarus Alexander Shumilin told reporters on 15 December prior to the session of the Education Ministry of Belarus, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and the State Committee for Science and Technology of Belarus.

“At the session today we will discuss 17 new suggestions and projects and the way they should be implemented. These are projects in bio- and nano-technologies, medicine, information and communication technologies, space, laser research, just to name a few. We need to come up with clear-cut mechanisms to finance, implement and incorporate them into the economic sector,” chairman of the committee said. According to him, some of these projects are aimed to deepen research in certain fields and to start the production of new radioelectronics devices.

Alexander Shumilin emphasized that the implementation of joint projects are high on the agenda of the Union State. “This is very relevant for Belarus: as it unites efforts with Russia, it will get more resources to materialize ambitious and expensive projects. The same pertains to the incorporation of research into practice, as the Belarusian market is often too small to introduce large-scale solutions there,” he noted. Thus, Belarus and Russia are set to discuss a possibility to expand cooperation in science and technology and maximize the efficiency of the Union State mechanisms. After all, Belarus and Russia are establishing a common sci-tech space that envisages the free development of innovations, their incorporation and distribution, he emphasized.

State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota informed that usually about RUB2.5 billion is allocated annually from the Union State budget to finance joint programs. “Sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. Anyways, this is around the amount that will be available this year, too. Now part of the money is spent on the programs that were launched earlier. However, we have enough reserves at hand. I urge partners not to shy away from suggesting new ideas,” the State Secretary said.

Grigory Rapota noted that the two countries have not yet settled the issue related to entrance exams that Belarusian nationals have to take in order to study at engineering universities of Russia and that Russian citizens have to take if they want to get enrolled at Belarusian engineering universities. “We will talk about it today. We also need to expand cooperation in personnel retraining. There are some questions to be answered about the Belarus-Russia University, too,” he said. Besides, the State Secretary suggested discussing healthcare provision for Belarusian students studying in Russia and Russian students studying in Belarus, and to promote the student construction brigades movement.