Statement of the 40th Governing Board

The Governing Board of the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) held its 40th “Jubilee” meeting in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia. The Governing Board thanked the Russian Federation and the Secretariat for the successful relocation to the new ISTC Headquarters in May 2006.

Representatives from 11 ISTC Parties attended with Canada, the European Union, Japan, Russian Federation, United States of America, and Armenia represented on the Governing Board. Armenia participated as a rotating CIS Board Member. In accordance with the System of rotation of the CIS Member seat approved at the 24th Governing Board, the Parties invited the Republic of Georgia to participate as a rotating CIS Governing Board Member in 2007.

The ISTC approved 30 new projects representing over $4.8 million and Euro 3.1 million in new funding for activities in Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazahkstan and Kyrgyz Republic. These projects highlight important areas of science and technology research and development. The Governing Board announced that 18 Partner projects totaling nearly $8.0 million have been approved since the previous meeting. ISTC Partners are private sector, intergovernmental, governmental, and non-governmental organizations that provide funds to engage CIS scientists in peaceful research projects. Total ISTC project funding in all categories now surpasses US $725 million for more than 2365 projects.

The Governing Board focused on reconsideration of the ISTC Project Proposal Package. Parties appreciated the efforts undertaken by the Secretariat to improve its readability and facilitating the project application process. The Package under consideration was extended with a number of new documents, providing more details on the existing procedures, as well as implementation of joint ISTC-STCU projects. The Parties tasked the Secretariat to update the Project Proposal Package to incorporate the expressed comments for further discussion.

Recognizing the importance of IPR in reaching sustainability objectives the ISTC Parties are paying an increased attention to handling IPR related issues both internally and at the level of the Secretariat. The Governing Board considered the report by the Secretariat on ongoing and planned activities and requested that all documents related to IPR be reviewed in the ISTC IP Working Group before being submitted to the next Governing Board Meeting.

The Governing Board recognizes that significant changes have taken place in Russian and CIS countries over the past several years and believes it is prudent to begin a strategic planning process to determine whether or not ISTC should continue to adapt to this changing environment. Proliferation risk on a global scale remains a primary concern of the international community and the ISTC’s non-proliferation core mandate is not expected to change.

The Governing Board agreed to convene the next Plenary Session in early December 2006 in Moscow.

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