Science and Technology: Romania, Bulgaria sign agreement
21/12/2009
Bulgaria and Romania sign a multi-facetted co-operation agreement. Also in science news: Albanian folk songs are now available in digital format, and Serbia receives a 200m-euro loan.
 Bulgaria and Romania sign a co-operation agreement. [Getty Images] |
Romanian Secretary of State for European Affairs Bogdan Mazuru and Bulgaria's Ambassador to Bucharest Valentin Radomirski have signed a programme for co-operation between the two countries. It covers education, science, culture, mass media, youth and sports through 2012.
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Albanian folk songs are now available in digital format at the Culture Anthropology Institute. Creating the new format of songs from early 20th century was possible due to the institute's rich sound archive. The project was supported by the Austrian Development Agency.
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The European Investment Bank approved a 200m-euro loan to Serbia for science and technology development, Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic announced on December 14th. He said that 25m euros from an EU grant will be added to these funds and enable the country to double investments in scientific and technological development, facilitating new research and improving researchers' living conditions.
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Romanian students won six medals -- one gold, two silver and three bronze -- at the 6th International Junior Science Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan earlier this month. Competitors in the Olympiad took three tests: chemistry, biology and physics. Nearly 260 pupils from 47 countries participated in the competition.
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Technological Park Varazdin and the Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (CNZD) in Osijek launched projects to protect children on the internet. The Croatian city of Varazdin, the CNZD and the park signed an agreement on co-operation as part of the projects "Safer Internet in Schools" and "Web Detectives". These projects guarantee 100% safe internet access in Varazdin schools. The latest surveys conducted in Osijek show that online contacts between children and paedophiles increased at an annual rate from 40% to 60%.
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Cyprus tops the list in installation of solar energy systems for hot water, Minister of Commerce Industry and Tourism Antonis Paschalides said on December 14th. Speaking at the 2nd Annual General Meeting of the Association of Wind Energy in Cyprus, Paschalides also announced that the country is sixth in the EU regarding its installed capacity of photovoltaic systems per capita, with total installed capacity of 3mW.
(Various sources – 14/12/09-21/12/09)
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