Science named one of the most promising areas of cooperation in Belarus-Russia Union State

Science is one of the most promising areas for the development of cooperation in the Belarus-Russia Union State, State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota said when speaking at the opening of the forum-workshop “Scientific environment of the Union State. New ideas and people”, BelTA has learned.

“The issues of scientific development of the Union State are extremely important for us. If we pay attention to the structure of the Union State programs, most of them are science-and finance-intensive. They are aimed at creating an innovative product. Science is one of the most solid and most promising avenues for our cooperation,” said Grigory Rapota.

The Union State implements programs mainly in space, medicine, nanotechnology, electronics, and mechanical engineering. "We do not spend money on manufacturing. We spend money on innovations," Grigory Rapota stressed.

According to Grigory Rapota, in the context of difficult economic conditions Russia and Belarus must invest in infrastructure, modernization of the manufacturing industries and science. "It would seem that in this difficult time science is not that important. But it is. Now is the time to develop science so that we would come out of the crisis strong, not weakened,” he said.

The forum-workshop “Scientific environment of the Union State. New ideas and people” is running in Moscow on 24-25 November. The forum focuses on the most pressing issues in the field of scientific cooperation between the two states and the information content of the development of the Russian and Belarusian science.

The forum is attended by State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Grigory Rapota, Minister-Counsellor of the Embassy of Belarus in Russia, Pavel Legky, head of office of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Piotr Vityaz. Taking part in the event are also representatives of the Permanent Committee of the Union State, ministries and agencies of Belarus and Russia, the leading scientific establishments and higher educational institutions of the two countries, the curators of the Union State programs and projects, head of the media outlets, public figures.

The forum features the presentations of the Union State based on high technologies, achievements of Russian and Belarusian scientists in the field of space medicine, new-generation medicinal preparations.