Brussels, 14/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - A fortnight ahead of the EU/Russia Summit (which will have science and technology issues high on its agenda), the Russian Industry Minister Alexander Dondukov met with Commissioner Philippe Busquin in Brussels on Friday. Aside from preparing for the Summit, the main aim of the meeting was to discuss the next stages in the EU's cooperation with Russia in research matters, particularly concrete details of the cooperation agreement that came into force on 10 May 2001.
The common objective of the European Commissioner and the Russian Minister was to outline an Action Plan identifying concrete projects and initiatives in the various areas covered by the agreement (environment, agriculture, non-nuclear energy, fisheries, transport, information society, industrial technology, etc) against the background of the European Research Area and the participation of Russian scientists in the Sixth Research Framework Programme. Before the end of the meeting, Messrs Busquin and Dundokov told journalists that they had made a first step in structuring research cooperation between the EU and Russia by deciding to set up a working group that would meet up every month. Mr Busquin announced that he intends to go to Moscow at the beginning of next year to assess the progress made by the working group with the Russians. The draft Sixth Framework Programme allows Russia to participate in networks of excellence and integrated projects.
When it came to areas of cooperation, Messrs Busquin and Dondukov focussed on the issue of intellectual property and new technology and information technology in particular. They decided to draw up a register of knowledge and create a joint website to facilitate the exchange of scientific data. They also discussed nanotechnologies, biotechnology, the human genome, space and energy. The Russian Minister stressed his country's interest in research into renewable sources of energy (wind power, solar energy, geothermal and biomass energy).
Some areas not actually covered by the cooperation agreement were also discussed by the Commissioner and the Russian Minister, particularly fusion, nuclear safety and security, where they talked about the EU's approach to global monitoring of environmental security (GMES). When it came to fusion, Mr Busquin reminded journalists that cooperation already existed as part of the ITER programme that Russia was party to. Mr Dondukov said that nuclear safety was a priority for Russia and that they were studying the possibility of building a "clean reactor", potentially in collaboration with the EU. On the issue of whether Russia can use the Kourou base (French Guyana) to launch their Proton shuttle, Mr Busquin's spokesperson, Andrea Dahmen, said that the issue would be discussed by the next Council of the European Space Agency (Edinburgh, 14/15 November), which Mr Busquin and the President of the Commission, Romano Prodi, would be attending.