Minister Damjanović with IAEA leaders: full support for further implementation of the SEEIIST project

Minister of Science, Dr. Sanja Damjanović, met today with IAEA leaders, Mr. Dazhu Yang, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation, and Mr. Aldo Malavasi, Deputy Director General of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, who confirmed the continued full support of the Agency to the regional project of the establishment of the South-East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies. Inter alia, the representatives of the Agency have suggested that the next meeting of the SEEIIST’s Steering Committee be held at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, expressing their willingness to participate in the Committee meetings.

Deputy Director General, Mr. Aldo Malavasi, congratulated Minister Damjanović on the progress achieved in the development of the SEEIIST regional project, including its political and scientific dimension. In addition, he reiterated the readiness of the Agency to financially and professionally support the planned training of staff, future project proponents, as well as to provide consultancy services at all stages of the project.

Previously, in the framework of past cooperation on the SEEIIST project, at the Scientific Forum in Trieste, organized by the Ministry of Science in cooperation with the ICTP Institute in January this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced the provision of half a million euros for staff training.

Minister Damjanović thanked the interlocutors for the engagement and support provided by the Agency since the project initiation. In this regard, she also pointed to the importance of the support by the European Commission, which was previously announced by Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, as well as at yesterday’s conference on research infrastructures (ICRI 2018), held in Vienna.

Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation, Mr. Yang, said that cooperation on this project of regional importance was a continuation of excellent collaboration between the Agency and the Ministry of Science. The meeting presented another opportunity to thoroughly discuss the specific modalities of financial and technical support, as well as of the Agency’s consultancy services. This, inter alia, includes the scientific visits of future researchers and scientists to similar centres, all with a view to further developing the necessary skills and specialist knowledge.

The meetings were also attended by Ms. Slavica Milačić, Ambassador of Montenegro to the UN, OSCE and other International Organizations in Vienna, as well as Mr. Saša Ivanović, Project Manager at the Ministry of Science.

Since 2007, Montenegro has implemented 13 projects worth about EUR 3,380,000 in cooperation with the IAEA. This year and next year, two projects are being implemented, for the Clinical Centre of Montenegro and the Centre for Ecotoxicological Research of Montenegro, worth a total of EUR 609.090.

The technical cooperation programmes represent the most significant and most intensive form of cooperation between Montenegro and the IAEA. Montenegro participates in projects related to medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, environment, veterinary medicine, and cultural heritage, which also involve the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Ministry of Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Centre for Ecotoxicological Research of Montenegro – CETI, University of Montenegro, Public Health Institute, Specialist Veterinary Laboratory, Clinical Centre of Montenegro, as well as Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts.