Board 23, November 16, 2006

Joint Statement

The Twenty Third Meeting of the Governing Board of the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU) convened on November 16th, 2006 in Kyiv, Ukraine; approving twenty-eight (28) new regular, government funded scientific projects and extensions for a total of of $687,869.00 and €2,731,390.00 The Governing Board also confirmed Eleven (11) new Partner Projects valued at $770,822.00 and €345,488.00; and also confirmed were eleven (11) Partner Project contract extensions valued at a total of $1,552,709 and €30,000.

Within the projects funded was the first project to be funded in the Republic of Moldova as proposed through the new STCU Office in Moldova which has recently been set up and which will be fully operational by the end of the year.

As part of the STCU's Targeted R&D Targeted Initiative Program; originally launched in 2005 by the STCU and the National Academy of Sciences (NASU), with the goal of co-financing, as equal partners, jointly selected projects focused on Ukrainian national S&T priority areas, the Governing Board approved ten (10) Targeted R&D Initiative projects for a total of USD $354,076 and €111,995.

The STCU is an intergovernmental, non-profit organization created with the goal of aiding unemployed or underemployed scientists in Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Uzbekinstan who previously worked on the development of weapons of mass destruction for the Soviet Union.

The STCU was created and is governed by the 'Agreement to Establish a Science and Technology Center in Ukraine', originally signed by Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States. Subsequently, Sweden was replaced by the European Union; Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan have also acceded to the agreement. The STCU finances projects that redirect the know how of the scientists, who were formerly involved in military programs, into peaceful sustainable civilian applications. Other than government funded projects, the STCU also works in a number of other spheres of activity: Matchmaking; Promotional Missions; Seminars and Workshops; Partnership Projects; Travel Grants; and Patent Support.

The STCU Governing Board meets on a semi-annual basis in order to determine the Center's policies and funding for scientific projects. The STCU Secretariat, located in Kyiv, Ukraine, is the main body responsible for fulfilling STCU decisions and policies on a daily basis.

The total funding to date including all twenty-three (23) STCU Governing Boards stands at approximately $149.8million, with the donor countries contributing the following amounts: Canada - $3.5m, U.S.A.- $73.8m, European Union - $29.0m (€24.3m), Non-Government Partners Sector - $14.7m, Government Partners Sector - $27.8m and Other (Japan, CERN) - $1.0m