On December 16 RSF Director General Alexander Khlunov and Director-General for Technological Affairs, Minister's Secretariat of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) Masamichi Saigo signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) providing legal base for the joint calls for Russian-Japanese research proposals in the field of agricultural sciences.
"This is the first experience of this kind of bilateral international call for research projects in our ministry," - said Mr. Saigo. "Japan is committed to participate in the joint projects with Russia, including the field of agriculture, and we look forward to a long-term, sustainable and fruitful cooperation with the Russian Science Foundation."
"We are interested in strengthening cooperation between the leading Russian and the best Japanese scientists aimed primarily at the development of the Far East and in the search for scientific solutions to problems in the field of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, which are both critical for Russia and for Japan," - noted Alexander Khlunov.
On the eve of the MOC official signing ceremony, on 15th of December, the RSF delegation participated in the thematic seminar organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, where they delivered the presentation of the RSF activities and responded to the numerous questions from the Japanese experts representing various universities and research organizations in the field of agriculture such as the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Science (JIRCAS) and others. One of the active contributors to the seminar was a Japanese scientist Tahakiro Kikavada, who is the research team leader of the project supported by RSF in the field of genetics, which is implemented on the basis of Kazan federal university.
