First meeting of the Belarus-Zimbabwe Joint Commission on Science and Technology

17.05.2023

On 16 May 2023, Deputy Director for International Scientific and Innovation Work of the State Institution "BelISA" Olga Khvostova took part in the first meeting of the Belarus-Zimbabwe Joint Commission on Science and Technology. The commission meeting was held at the State Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus.

As Deputy Chairperson of the SCST Tatiana Stolyarova noted in her welcoming speech, cooperation in science, technology and innovations is an important part of the political, trade and economic relations between Belarus and Zimbabwe. The state visit of the President of Belarus to Zimbabwe in January 2023 and the agreements reached following the visit have contributed to their dynamic development.

"Four years have passed since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in science, technology and innovations between the State Science and Technology Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Education, Innovation, Science and Technological Development of Zimbabwe. The initial stage of our cooperation was complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite this fact we have approved the Scientific and Technical Cooperation Program between the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Zimbabwe for 2022-2024," the SCST deputy chairman said. — The document defines cooperation activities both in a broad sense and within individual thematic areas. The document covers, for example, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine and fodder production where the scientific organizations of the two countries have reached a certain level of mutual understanding.

Tatiana Stolyarova stressed that the Belarusian side is interested in reaching specific agreements on a number of items of the bilateral Programme of Scientific and Technical Cooperation and is ready for a constructive dialogue and open exchange of views.

During the meeting, the parties identified a number of priority areas for further cooperation: digital information and communication technologies, energy, construction, ecology and environmental management, agro-industry, food and machine building technologies, instrumentation and innovative materials, as well as biological, medical, pharmaceutical technologies and production.

Joint scientific and technical events (conferences, forums, exhibitions) were also discussed. An agreement was reached to hold a joint Belarusian-Zimbabwean competition of scientific and technical projects for 2024-2025.

The discussion resulted in the signing of a protocol reflecting the key agreements reached during the event. The parties agreed to hold the next meeting of the commission in 2025 in the Republic of Zimbabwe.

By the materialsSCST.