Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, Nunu Mitskevich participated in a video conference on research and innovation organized by the European Commission. The main goal of the conference was to strengthen cooperation between European countries in the field of research and innovation and to overcome the crisis caused by COVIDD-19, which has been declared a pandemic by World Health Organization. Representatives of various Ministries responsible for science in the European Union and the Associated States shared their experiences for the disease prevention, diagnosis, and numerous ways for providing treatment.

The video conference was opened by Jean-Eric Pack, Director General of the European Commission's Research and Innovation Department and spoke about the role of science in alleviating the crisis of the Coronavirus pandemic. He also briefed the conference participants on the news planned by the European Commission. According to Jean-Eric Pack, an open platform will be set up for COVID-19 (https://ec.europa.eu; https://ec.europa.eu), where various research groups will be able to share their research with the general public. Moreover, in the coming future, the European Commission plans to collaborate with various foundations, research groups, laboratories, and research institutes to conduct a joint scientific research on the diagnosis, treatment, and vaccination of COVID-19.

In her speech, Nunu Mitskevichi thanked the European Commission for its efforts and all the necessary measures to help alleviate the crisis caused by COVID-19.  Additionally, during the meeting, the Deputy Minister reviewed the steps taken by Georgian researchers and scientific institutions and stated that there is a high interest in participating in the competitions announced by the European Commission by the Georgian scientific community. Georgian scientific groups in cooperation with their European counterparts will take part in a special competition announced by the European Commission within the scope the Horizon 2020 program.

The video conference was attended by the Ministers of Education and Science of the 16 countries associated with the EU Horizon Framework Research and Innovation program, Deputy Ministers, representatives of scientific foundations and various research institutions.