Damjanović – Deskoska: Full support to the initiative to establish an international institute

VIDEO - Official visit to the Ministry of Education and Science of Republic of Macedonia –scenes

VIDEO - Ministry of Science Sanja Damjanovic - statement

VIDEO- The Minister of Education and Science of Republic of Macedonia Renata Deskoska - statement

On 27 June 2017, the Minister of Science of Montenegro Dr. Sanja Damjanović paid an official visit to the Ministry of Education and Science of Republic of Macedonia, meeting her Macedonian counterpart, Renata Deskoska. The occasion for the meeting was the initiative to establish an international scientific institute for development of sustainable technologies in South-eastern Europe, which relies on common regional interests, given primarily the economic, cultural and social aspects.

Minister Damjanović explained that the project implementation required the support of countries in the region and informed her counterpart about the future steps relating to the formation of a commission for the development of specific design solutions and education programmes for young researchers in order to build expertise, for which funding from EU structural funds could be provided.

According to her, the EU has sought an attractive project for the region of South-eastern Europe for years, which is why the initiative presents a great opportunity for the scientific community of the region to exploit the potential, develop science and get closer to the rest of Europe.

The Minister of Education and Science of Republic of Macedonia Renata Deskoska said that the initiative was an excellent idea and that full support of Macedonia could be expected with regard to the formation of the institute.

- This is a great opportunity for the scientific community of the region, but also for its economy. We wish to take active participation in further implementation of the initiative, said Minister Deskoska.


The scientific meeting at which a decision will be made on which of the two options proposed by the initiative is the most acceptable for the region, “Synchrotron Light Source” or “Hadron Cancer Therapy”, is to be held in November this year. This project, unique in the region, would boost economic development, improve the living standard and reduce unemployment.

The main initiator of the idea to establish the institute was Prof. Herwig Schopper, former Director-General of CERN, and the initiative has also received support of the UN, UNESCO and CERN, as well as of Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, who recently met with Minister Damjanović and expressed his full support to this project.

The two ministers have agreed that it is necessary to further develop bilateral cooperation and additionally strengthen the cooperation of scientific communities of Macedonia and Montenegro.

The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of Montenegro to Republic of Macedonia, Predrag Mitrović.

Pursuant to the Agreement between the Government of Montenegro and the Government of the Republic of Macedonia on Scientific and Technological Cooperation concluded on 22 October 2010 and the Competition for co-financing scientific and technological cooperation between Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia, published on 10 May 2012, the Ministry of Science Montenegro and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Macedonia co-finance 10 joint scientific research projects, including mutual visits (costs of travel and stay) of researchers from Montenegro and researchers from Macedonia, in the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017.