Minister Damjanović in official visit to Republic of Slovenia

On 15 May 2017, the Minister of Science of Montenegro Dr Sanja Damjanović met with the Minister of Education, Science and Sport of Republic of Slovenia Dr Maja Makovec Brenčič in Ljubljana, with a view to present the initiative to establish an international institute for sustainable technologies in South-eastern Europe with the mission of “Science for Peace”.

The main objective of the institute would be to promote and enhance the cooperation between science, technology and industry, providing a platform for the development of education and training of young scientists and engineers, but also the knowledge and technology transfer from European laboratories such as CERN and other centres. Due to various networking activities, according to the Minister, the initiative would be unique in the whole region and would present another successful example of the CERN’s model.

Minister Damjanović also informed her counterpart of the full support of the European Commission, expressed recently at a meeting with Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.

During the meeting, it was jointly concluded that the initiative was of great importance for the region and that such a project would significantly contribute to improving the living standard and reducing unemployment.

The Minister of Education, Science and Sport of Republic of Slovenia Dr Maja Makovec Brenčič said that the initiative would be an important incentive for the development of the scientific community and scientific capacity in the region, as well as that the opportunity ought to be used because the only way leading to prosperity of science is the one where neighbours join their research efforts.

Minister Makovec Brenčič also stressed the great interest of the medical community of Slovenia for the initiative, especially with regard to Hadron cancer therapy, which is one of the options envisaged by the initiative, offering full support for its further implementation.

The meeting in Villa Podrožnik was also attended by the Ambassador of Montenegro to Slovenia, Dr Miomir Mugoša. The counterparts reflected on successful bilateral cooperation between Montenegro and Slovenia in the field of scientific and technological cooperation, which has been implemented since 2004.

Based on the Agreement between the Government of Montenegro and the Government of Republic of Slovenia on Scientific and Technological Cooperation, four projects for co-financing scientific and technological cooperation have been implemented, pursuant to which 82 projects have been funded.