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MINSK, 28 September (BelTA) – Belarus suggests establishing a trust fund in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to finance innovative projects. Sergei Kilin, Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB), presented the idea as he attended the international conference 25th Anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States: Results and Prospects on 28 September, BelTA has learned.

Such a fund would help concentrate the resources on priority areas of research in the CIS and improve the distribution of revenues from research activity.

Sergei Kilin noted that the countries of the CIS adopted the CIS interstate innovative cooperation program for the period until 2020. The NASB is the contractor of five projects implemented under the program. The projects are related to supercomputers, laser technologies and medicine. Belarusian scientists have also drafted new projects that may be included in the program. Their drafts will be discussed at the international conference that is underway in Minsk.

“The conference is an opportunity for us to exchange opinions and find absolutely new approaches to our common scientific tasks and priority research areas that include power engineering, energy conservation, nanosystems industry, biotechnology, environmental management and others,” Sergei Kilin stressed.

He also noted that the all-round cooperation among the countries of the CIS yields fruit. “Our experience of cooperation within the Commonwealth formed the basis for the integration processes in the Customs Union and the single economic space. Over the past 25 years, the CIS has evolved into a unique regional intergovernmental organization and an instrument for cooperation in addressing key development issues,” Sergei Kilin said.