Council of Russian-Indian commission for scientific and technical cooperation meets in Delhi

The annual meeting of the joint Council of the Russian-Indian commission for the implementation of a complex long-term program of scientific-technical cooperation opened in Bangalore (south Indian state of Karnataka) on Wednesday.

Before the meeting, head of the Russian delegation Academician Fyodor Kuznetsov, director of the Novosibirsk institute of inorganic chemistry, met Indian Minister of Science and Technology Murli Manohar Joshi. The sides pointed to the high level of cooperation in the given sphere. At present, India and Russia are working on 164 joint programs united in several general directions, including, aerospace research, computer developments, applied sciences, bio-technology, materials technology, ecology, agriculture and others.

The joint commission was set up in 1987. In October 2000, the sides adopted a new 10-year cooperation program. Among the specific results of Russo-Indian scientific and technical cooperation during this period is, in particular, the creation of the Biotechnologies Centre in Allahabad, the international centre of advanced research in the sphere of powder metallurgy and new materials in Hyderabad, the immunology and biology institute in Bulandshahr.

In March this year, India and Russia signed a memorandum on mutual understanding in creating a centre of non-traditional medicine - ayurvedic studies. It is also envisaged to expand research cooperation in seismology and meteorology.

During the two days of its work the Council of the commission is expected to study altogether up to 80 new trends in bilateral scientific-technical cooperation.