Agreement on Cooperation in Science, Engineering, and Health Between the U.S. National Academies and the Russian Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine (hereafter referred to as the U.S. National Academies) and the Russian Academy of Sciences, recognizing the many contributions of international cooperation to the achievement of research, economic, and national security goals, will undertake a series of joint activities during 2002, 2003, and 2004. These activities will build on several decades of interacademy cooperation. Cooperation pursuant to this agreement will be conducted in areas of mutual interest to the academies. The forms of cooperation may include visits of specialists, exchanges of documents including electronic transfers, technical meetings and workshops, seminars and conferences, and joint studies and research projects. The carrying out of these activities is subject to mutual agreement of the academies and to the availability of funds and appropriate personnel. Activities currently envisaged for 2002 to 2004 are as follows: (1) The interacademy seminars and related activities on security and arms control issues will continue to receive high priority (see Annex 1). (2) The academies will establish American and Russian committees that will jointly organize seminars, consultations, and related activities concerning the prevention of terrorism and the mitigation of its consequences (see Annex 2). (3) The academies will continue their program of conferences and consultations concerning approaches to reduce ethnic tensions within multiethnic nations and regions of nations and to reduce international problems rooted in ethnic animosities, with particular attention to the relationships of such problems to global terrorism. (4) The academies will continue to support the study by American and Russian specialists of end points for disposition of nuclear spent fuel and high level radioactive wastes. They will also consider the organization of an interacademy workshop to evaluate the scientific aspects of an international repository in Russia for nuclear spent fuel. (5) The academies will undertake a study of approaches for maintaining adequate security systems for protecting nuclear material after the termination of U.S.-Russian collaborative programs in this field. (6) The academies will carry out projects concerning the capabilities of the two countries to develop knowledge-based economies, including the responsiveness of research institutions to industrial needs for new technologies, the role of NGOs in reducing pollution impacts attendant to industrial development, and the importance of linking universities with research institutions and industrial companies. (7) The Russian Academy of Sciences will continue to facilitate assessments by the U.S. National Academies of project proposals by Russian scientists to collaborate with American scientists on civilian-oriented research on biological pathogens. (8) The academies will continue to encourage American and Russian specialists in fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geosciences, and engineering to apply for participation in the travel grants program administered by the National Research Council. (9) The academies will explore opportunities for cooperation on the following topics of broad international interest: scientific and security concerns in Northeast Asia; strengthening of the economies of science cities; and innovative uses of the internet to improve international scientific cooperation. Other programs of cooperation can be undertaken with the mutual consent of the two Academies. The financial arrangements for joint activities will be agreed to on a project-by-project basis. All joint activities are subject to the laws and regulations of the two countries. The Office of International Affairs of the National Research Council and the Department of Foreign Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences will serve as the executive agents in the implementation of this agreement. Each year, representatives of the two Academies will review progress in carrying out activities under this Agreement. Done in New York, in duplicate this second day of February 2002, in the English and Russian languages, each text being equally authentic. Bruce Alberts President, National Academy of Sciences William A. Wulf President, National Academy of Engineering Kenneth Shine President, Institute of Medicine Yuri Osipov President, Russian Academy of Sciences Annex 1 To the Agreement of Cooperation in Science, Engineering, and Medicine Between the Russian Academy of Sciences and The U.S. National Academies Standing Committees on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC) The Russian Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, recognizing the long and distinguished history of cooperation between Russian and American scientists to bring the resources of science and technology to bear on urgent problems of peace and security, reaffirm their support for the programs of the Russian and American Standing Committees on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC). The committees will continue to conduct regular meetings of their bilateral policy dialogues, begun in 1981, which provide a private, off-the-record venue for problem-solving discussions of current and emerging issues related to international security and arms control. Each committee is urged to continue sharing the results of these discussions with officials of its respective government as appropriate. In recognition of the changing international circumstances and the important potential for a new strategic relationship between the United States and Russia, the committees will also undertake an expanded program of cooperation, including joint statements, joint studies, workshops, seminars, meetings of working groups, and conferences. The elements of this program will be developed jointly by the two committees. Areas of particular interest may include, but are not necessarily limited to, technical and policy issues related to: · future reductions in strategic and nonstrategic nuclear weapons, including arrangements for transparency and verification; · improvements in the security and accounting for nuclear weapons and nuclear materials, including programs for the final stage of disposition of the materials; · implications of the development and role of theater and national missile defenses; · implications of the development and role of military space programs, including weapons; · improvements in national systems and in bilateral and international cooperation to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons; · improvements in national systems and in international and bilateral cooperation to prevent the deliberate or inadvertent misuse of research in advanced biotechnology; · the evolution of military doctrine and the role of arms control in national security policy; · implications of trends in the development and diffusion of advanced conventional weapons and technologies, and the role of arms control in preventing or managing proliferation; · implications of U.S. and Russian security relations with other countries, international alliances, and international organizations. As appropriate, in furtherance of the above-mentioned activities, the committees may create working groups in specific areas of high priority, involving scientists, engineers, and policy analysts from the Russian Academy, from the U.S. National Academies, and from the wider community of relevant experts. An example is the current Working Group on Biological Weapons Control of the U.S. CISAC, which plans renewed work with Russian counterparts. The committees will consist of 10-20 members each. Members of the committees and any working groups will be appointed in accordance with the procedures of the two Academies. The committees will ensure that their activities are appropriately coordinated with other interacademy activities and with intergovernmental programs. Annex 2 To the Agreement of Cooperation in Science, Engineering, and Medicine Between the Russian Academy of Sciences and The U.S. National Academies Russian-American Cooperation in Counterterrorism The U.S. National Academies and the Russian Academy of Sciences, recognizing the urgent need for collaborative science and technology-based efforts across the broad spectrum of areas related to prevention, response, and mitigation of terrorism, will undertake a new joint program under the guidance of Russian and American standing committees. The committees will organize joint studies on how to cope effectively with emerging threats and challenges related to terrorism. The program will provide an independent avenue for scientists and specialists to perform studies and analyses, to exchange data and findings, to hold workshops, seminars, and conferences, to train specialists, to educate representatives of the media and other relevant organizations, and to recommend future cooperative programs and projects between appropriate organizations. Areas of particular interest for this effort may include, but are not necessarily limited to: · Radiological terrorism, including protection of radioactive sources and wastes; · Access by terrorists to nuclear materials and technologies and the security of nuclear materials and facilities; · Bioterrorism against both humans and the food supply, including preventing access by terrorists to dangerous pathogens and application of new technologies for prevention and detection of terrorist incidents and for responses to them; · Chemical terrorism, including prevention of access by terrorists to dangerous chemicals and application of new technologies for prevention and detection of terrorist incidents and for responses to them; · Electromagnetic terrorism and the prevention of damage to electronic equipment sensitive to electromagnetic effects; · Safety of vulnerable industrial and energy infrastructures and transportation facilities; · Cyberterrorism, including education and training of specialists; · Improvement and harmonization of the international and national legal basis for combating terrorism; · The social, economic, and ethnic roots of terrorism. In furtherance of the above-mentioned activities, the two committees will commission papers and analyses in specific areas of high priority involving American and Russian specialists with relevant expertise. Likely initial topics will be cyber, radiological, and biological terrorism. The committees will consist of up to ten members each. The chairs and members of the committees will be approved by the U.S. National Academies and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Their activities will be appropriately coordinated with other interacademy activities and with intergovernmental programs.