On 28 October, Moscow will host a meeting of BRICS Ministers of Science, Technology and Innovation as part of a series of official events under Russia’s presidency of the group of five countries.
The event will be attended by Russian Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov, Brazilian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Celso Pansera, Indian Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan, Chinese Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Jianlin Cao and South African Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor.
The goal of the meeting is to intensify the dialogue among the BRICS countries in science, technology and innovation, and develop specific mechanisms for cooperation in state regulation and support of joint scientific and technical programmes and projects. The ministers also plan to discuss the funding of research and innovation activities of scientific institutions.
Special attention will be paid to the mechanism of cooperation in five thematic areas developed by the BRICS countries: prevention and mitigation of natural disasters (Brazil); water resources and pollution control (Russia); geospatial technologies and their application (India); new and renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency (China); and astronomy (South Africa).
An important part of the dialogue will focus on the creation and coordination of working groups on cooperation.
The meeting will also include presentations on the launch of pilot contests of scientific projects within BRICS.
The main event of the meeting will be the signing of the Moscow Ministerial Declaration, which reflects the main lines of medium-term cooperation of the BRICS countries in science, technology and innovation. The ministers also plan to adopt the 2015-2018 BRICS Work Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation and measures to implement the BRICS Research and Innovation Initiative, approved in accordance with the Brasilia Declaration, adopted on 18 March 2015.