Moscow
9 December 2010

The Governing Board of the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) held its 52th meeting. The meeting was chaired by Victor E. Alessi.

Representatives of various ISTC Parties attended the meeting, including Canada, the European Union, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United States of America, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and the Kyrgyz Republic. The Republic of Tajikistan participated as rotating CIS Board member.

The Governing Board approved the extension of Ronald F. Lehman II as ISTC Chairman until March 2012.

The Governing Board welcomed the appointment of Masaki Sugamiya as new Governing Board Member of ISTC on behalf of Japan. The Governing Board cordially thanked Jun Yanagi for his valuable contribution to the work of ISTC.

The Governing Board also welcomed Sulkhan Sisauri as the new Governing Board member of ISTC on behalf of Georgia.

The Governing Board thanked Mamadsho Ilolov, the President of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan for his valuable contribution to the work of Governing Board of ISTC in his function as rotating Governing Board Member. From 1 January 2011, Kazakhstan will take this position of rotating Governing Board Member. 

The Governing Board approved the extension of Adriaan van der Meer as Executive Director of the ISTC Secretariat until 30 April 2012. It also approved the extension of Michael Einik as Deputy Executive Director for one year until 25 April 2012.

The Governing Board held a discussion on the possible consequences of the Executive Order of the President of the Russian Federation dated 11 August 2010 with respect to the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the Agreement Establishing the International Science and Technology Center of 27 November 1992 and from the Protocol of 27 December 1993 on the Provisional Application of the Agreement Establishing the International Science and Technology Center. The Governing Board expressed its gratitude to the Scientific Advisory Committee for outlining its views on this matter and noted the statement of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan.

The parties took note of the statement made by the Russian Federation that “status 5” project agreements for projects to be implemented in the Russian Federation on which funding decisions had been made before the Presidential Decree of 11 August 2010 will be submitted to the ISTC Secretariat for implementation and completion after they have been approved by the Export Committee of Rosatom.

Further, the funding parties noted that, in order for ongoing projects in the Russian Federation to run to their natural conclusions and under existing conditions, it will be necessary for the Russian Federation to withdraw from the Agreement Establishing the International Science and Technology Center of 27 November 1992 and from the Protocol of 27 December 1993 on the Provisional Application of the Agreement Establishing the International Science and Technology Center not before the end of 2014.

The parties also welcomed the affirmation of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan that, notwithstanding any action of the Russian Federation with regard to its ISTC membership, all current and future ISTC projects on their territories will be allowed to run to completion in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement Establishing the International Science and Technology Center of 27 November 1992 and the Protocol of 27 December 1993 on the Provisional Application of the Agreement Establishing the International Science and Technology Center.

The funding parties emphasized the importance of continuing their cooperation with the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan.

The parties expressed their interest in continuing multilateral scientific and technological cooperation based on the objectives and principles identified in the report of the working party adopted by the Governing Board on 14 July 2010. 

The parties took note of the proposal to hold consultations to discuss a new framework for cooperation.

At present eight targeted initiatives are at various stage of implementation at ISTC. The Governing Board received an overview of current work related to:

- Fuel Cell Targeted Initiative
- Drug Design & Development Targeted Initiative 
- Science & Technology in the Prevention of Biological Threats Targeted Initiative 
- Law Enforcement Targeted Initiative 
- Probiotics & Health Targeted Initiative
- Scientific and Technical Support against the Illicit Trafficking of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials Targeted Initiative
- Ultra-High Intensity Light Science and Technologies Targeted Initiative
- Technical Support for IAEA Advanced Safeguard and Verification Development Program

The Governing Board asked the Secretariat to continue the work on these initiatives taking into account the financial means available. 

The Governing Board noted the substantial progress made in the implementation of the Ultra-High Intensity Light Science and Technologies Targeted Initiative. In particular, it welcomed the special publication on the research results in this field. It also provides an expert review on possible international cooperation in this area. The Governing Board asked the Secretariat to implement phase 2 of this initiative by promoting further collaboration on joint projects. 

The Governing Board thanked the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) for the valuable advice given on the various project proposals submitted to the Governing Board.

The ISTC approved 2 new projects representing over 641,500 USD in new funding for activities in the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan.

The Governing Board noted that between Governing Board Meeting 51 and Governing Board Meeting 52 more than 3,614,071 USD in new partner funding was received.

The Governing Board set the deadline for project proposals submission to the next Funding Session (FS53) on 16 March 2011.

A new supplementary budget was created under the Communication Support Program for a specific project at the Institute «Kaustic», Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. 

The Governing Board agreed to convene the next Plenary Session on 30 June 2011 in Moscow.