Brussels, 03/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, on 27-28 June, the COST (Committee of Senior Officials for Scientific and Technical Research) Committee of Senior Officials welcomed the progress made towards the adoption of the EU's 7th Framework Programme on Research and Development. The Committee issued a statement that, in order to exploit the full potential of COST for the duration of the next Framework programme (2007-2013) should be €280 million. It agreed to communicate this statement to the institutions examining the forthcoming proposal on the specific programme “Cooperation”. This amount would allow - as is the case in the 6th FPRD - the costs of the COST secretariat to be met. COST is an intergovernmental organisation charged with coordinating the networking of European researchers in a bottom-up framework. The Committee also approved 23 new actions in fields as diverse as information technologies, environmental management, urban development and fuel cells.