Serbia becomes CERN Associate Member
10. January 2012. | 16:11
Source: Tanjug
Serbian President Boris Tadic and Director General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Rolf Dieter Heuer signed on Tuesday in Geneva an agreement declaring Serbia a CERN Associate Member State.
Serbian President Boris Tadic and Director General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Rolf Dieter Heuer signed on Tuesday in Geneva an agreement declaring Serbia a CERN Associate Member State.
The decision on granting Serbia the associate membership was delivered on December 16, 2011, this being an important step towards the full membership in the organization, which should be secured in the next five years.
CERN was founded in 1954 by twelve countries, among which was Yugoslavia, which left the organization in 1961. In 2001, Serbia signed the agreement on cooperation, thereby announcing its gradual return.
The organisation, located astride the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, now has 20 member states, hires around 2,400 employees and around 10,000 visiting scientists which represent more than 600 universities worldwide.
Around 30 Serbian scientists are taking part in two ongoing experiments ATLAS and CMS.
CERN is the world's largest laboratory for particle physics, and the main researches are being carried out in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The experiment will bring about a revolution in people's understanding of the universe, anti-matter and the Higgs boson or so-called God particle.
Prior to signing, Heuer staged a presentation to the Serbian president, instructing him in CERN's main areas of research.
Tadic then toured the LHC, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, in which the ATLAS and CMS experiments are being conducted.
Serbian Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic is in Geneva together with President Tadic.
They are accompanied by former deputy prime minister Bozidar Djelic, who headed the Serbian delegation in negotiations over Serbia's associate membership.
Throughout the afternoon, Tadic will hold several meetings with high officials of international organizations.
According to the earlier announcement of the president's press service, Tadic will hold a separate meeting with Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva and Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament Kassym Tokayev.
Tadic will also confer with Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Jan Kubis, World Intellectual Property Organization Director-General Francis Gurry and World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy.
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