Minister Damjanović has working breakfast with ambassadors

 

Minister of Science Dr. Sanja Damjanović presented today at Vila Gorica the current status of the regional project of establishing the South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST), as well as the upcoming steps of crucial importance for further project development. The working breakfast was attended by the ambassadors and representatives of the SEEIIST Memorandum of Cooperation potential signatories and the Berlin Process Member States.

   

Minister Damjanović informed the ambassadors that the project was entering the next implementation stage, the so-called Design Study Phase, thanks to the first financial support of the EC’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD). Furthermore, she indicated that the project was in safe hands in terms of the scientific and technical aspects, because renowned scientific institutions – CERN in Geneva (https://home.cern) and GSI-FAIR in Darmstadt (https://fair-center.eu) had provided their strong support by offering to host the Design Study Phase. Nevertheless, the establishment of the SEEIIST institute in our region will depend primarily on the political commitment and support of the region, as well as on support of the European Commission and in general the EU Member States.

   

   

In this regard, the SEEIIST Steering Committee prepared a Draft Memorandum of Cooperation Framework, which was agreed upon in the presence of foreign ministries representatives at a working meeting held in early March 2019 in Podgorica. It was suggested that the Memorandum is signed by the prime ministers, and there is an initiative for the signing ceremony to take place during the Berlin Process Summit, to be held on 4-5 July 2019 in Poznan, Poland.

   

Damjanović used the opportunity to invite the working breakfast participants to attend a high-level SEEIIST event marking the start of the SEEIIST Design Study Phase. The SEEIIST Steering Committee agreed that the event is organised on 18 September 2019 in Montenegro. The event will be attended by many high-level delegates, including the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas. Further information on the event are available here: https://indico.cern.ch/event/807172