At the sitting held on 10 September, the members of the Committee on Science and Technological Development considered the Bill on the Confirmation of the Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Italy and the Bill on the Confirmation of the Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the United States of America, submitted to the National Assembly by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Representatives of the Ministry of Science and Technological Development presented the two Bills to the Committee members.

The Bill on the Confirmation of the Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Italy provides the basis for further development of their partnership in the sphere of science and technology. The initiative to sign this Agreement dates back to 2007, and the talks were completed last year when the agreement itself was signed. The Agreement, inter alia, envisages an exchange of information and scientists, joint organisation of scientific events, specialisation of Serbian scientists at Italian institutes, specialisation programmes and realisation of joint scientific projects. The Ministry representatives highlighted that this is just one of Serbia’s many initiatives for the improvement of scientific cooperation with EU countries.

In the discussion on the first item on the agenda the Committee members insisted on the full realisation of the Agreement with a special focus on the exchange of experiences between young scientists and specialist studies at Italian institutes.

Following the discussion, the Committee members endorsed the Bill by a majority of votes.

The Bill on the Confirmation of the Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the United States of America establishes state-level scientific cooperation between Serbia and the US for the first time after 20 years. The fact that the majority of Serbia’s scientific diaspora is located in the US, working either in scientific institutes or private companies, is an important factor in the signing of the Agreement. The Agreement aims to attract prominent science and technology companies to invest in Serbia, open up American funds for young scientists, as well as commence the realisation of joint projects. The Agreement was signed in April this year and several initiatives have been launched since then, the most important of which being the opening of the American experts database, endorsement of the idea that 10 July, Nikola Tesla’s birthday, become International Science Day and having prominent highly developed technology companies invest in Serbia.

Following a short debate on the Bill, the Committee members unanimously endorsed it.

By the end of the sitting the Committee members had agreed that the next sitting be held on Friday, 17 September 2010.

The sitting was chaired by Srboljub Zivanovic, Committee Chairman.