At the sitting held on 8 April, the members of the Committee on Science and Technological Development considered the Information on the current projects of the Ministry of Science and Technological Development and their ecological importance and the Information on the projects the Ministry of Science and Technological Development had given up on and their total value.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Srboljub Zivanovic, while Assistant Ministers of Science and Technological Development Miroslav Veskovic and Radoslav Cerovic presented the information to the Committee.

Assistant Minister Cerovic stated that in the previous project year, out of the total of 521 proposed projects the Ministry of Science and Technological Development approved and is currently financing the realisation of 471 projects from the field of technological development, lasting from one to three years. 25 of these projects fall within the field of environmental protection, and 27 within the field of energy efficiency. The total amount of funds intended for the financing of these projects exceeds 3 billion dinars. The projects that were not approved (50 of them) did not pass the evaluation and review process last year. This year too, the Ministry called a competition and has so far received 104 applications, while 82 projects have been admitted into further procedure. The main criteria used to evaluate the projects are their environmental friendliness and energy efficiency.

In the continuation, responding to the Committee members’ questions, Assistant Minister Veskovic informed the Committee about the realisation of project VIN, primarily the realisation of the part dealing with safe transport of nuclear fuel from Vinca Institute to the Russian Federation. He stressed that this project is an absolute priority in 2009 and that its finalisation is expected by 2010.