On 8 August 2018, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Chile to the Russian Federation Mr. Rodrigo Jose Nieto Maturana, paid a working visit to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research for the first time.

An acquaintance of Mr. Jose Nieto Maturana with the JINR scientific infrastructure included the Factory of Superheavy Elements preparing for the upcoming launch and spectrometers in the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, the NICA Collider which is being established, as well as the Laboratory of Information Technologies of JINR.

The Ambassador met with representatives of the Federico Santa Maria Technical University (Valparaiso, Chile) in JINR who participate in joint work with JINR on NICA/MPD: an engineer of the CCTVal Scientific and Technical Centre Elias Rosas and titular Professor Sergey Kovalenko, who previously worked for a long time at the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems of JINR and currently collaborates with JINR scientists in neutrino physics and physics beyond the Standard Model.

The visit of the Ambassador concluded with a meeting in the JINR Directorate with JINR Vice-Director M.G. Itkis and Head of the JINR International Cooperation Department D.V. Kamanin. On the Chilean side, the meeting was attended by the representatives of the Federico Santa Maria Technical University, representing a group of scientists and engineers interested in participating in the NICA project and other JINR projects.

In the photo (left to right): Counsellor on Science and Technology of the Embassy of the French Republic in RF Abdo Malac, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Chile to the RF Mr. Rodrigo Jose Nieto Maturana and JINR Vice-Director Vladimir Kekelidze during the excursion to VBLHEP

During the conversation, the parties expressed their intention to establish working contacts at the official level to determine promising areas of cooperation. On the JINR side, a number of initiatives aimed at rapid deployment of large-scale cooperation were voiced. It was noted that development of contacts with JINR due to its international status could contribute to development of scientific cooperation of Chile with the JINR Member States and, in particular, with Russia. Noting the importance of the Chilean government’s support for such initiatives, the Ambassador expressed his intention to provide information about JINR at the Ministerial level.

In his interview to the media of Dubna and JINR, the Ambassador noted that the priority areas for Chile are innovative development and applied research which implies the development of higher education in Chile and international academic exchange. JINR is of particular interest to Chile in this regard because of its international and intergovernmental status. The Ambassador noted that what he saw in JINR was very interesting for him. He was impressed by the wide range of scientific research of JINR and sees many opportunities for the development of cooperation between Chile and JINR.

The visit of the Ambassador of the Republic of Chile coincided with a visit to JINR of Mr. Abdo Malac, Counsellor on Science and Technology of the Embassy of the French Republic in the Russian Federation.

Photos by Igor Lapenko, Scientific Information Department