Innovative Biotechnology - for EurAsEC members

EurAsEC countries will begin to implement the international program “Innovative Biotechnologies” next year, Emilia Kolomiets, the director of the Microbiology Institute of the Belarus National Academy of Sciences, told reporters.

EurAsEC countries will begin to implement the international program “Innovative Biotechnologies” next year, Emilia Kolomiets, the director of the Microbiology Institute of the Belarus National Academy of Sciences, told reporters.

“The annual turnover of the global biotech industry according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is currently around 160 billion U.S. dollars, - she said. - At the same time, the countries of the former Soviet Union are far behind many countries in terms of research and application of new biotechnologies. Therefore, joint efforts in establishing a modern biotechnology industry are relevant for Russia and Belarus, and other neighboring countries. Each country has its own achievements, but to create and work on a joint program in biotechnology will allow them to multiply their possibilities.”

The international EurAsEC program “Innovative Biotechnology” was approved on May 21 at the Interstate Council in St. Petersburg and is designed for 2011-2015. The participants of the development program are Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The total funding for the program is 926.6 million Russian rubles. Funding will be provided on separate circuit from the budgets of the participating countries with the assistance of extra budgetary funds.

The program is aimed at scientific support of the biotechnology industry in the participating countries and provides for the development and introduction of new biotechnology, biological products and diagnostic test systems for agriculture, industry, medicine and environmental protection. Combining the efforts of countries in this program will allow each of them to use the expertise and resources of partners at minimal cost, to implement breakthrough projects in the field of microbial and DNA technologies, will provide access to information databases that will help to expand markets for new kinds of biotechnology products.