ISTC to be headquartered at EXPO complex in Astana

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan has adopted the Law "On ratification of the Agreement on continuation of activity of the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC)" at the plenary session on Thursday, Kazinform correspondent reports.

"The International Science and Technology Center is an international organization established by the international agreement between the European Union, Russia, the U.S. and Japan in November 1992 as a program to prevent nuclear proliferation and the proliferation of other weapons of mass destruction. Kazakhstan joined the ISTC in 1995. The Agreement on continuation of the ISTC's activity was signed in 2015 in Astana. As per the agreement, the ISTC headquarters will be transferred from Russia to Kazakhstan," said Minister of Education and Science Yerlan Sagadiyev introducing the draft law.

Presently, the ISTC is based at the Nazarbayev Universit. Later it will be housed at one of the buildings of the EXPO exhibition complex.

The ISTC supports promising innovative projects that create business opportunities by launching commercial JVs that link the demands of international markets with the highly qualified research and scientific talent pool available in Russian and CIS institutes. Over the past 20 years the ISTC has allotted $75 million worth of grants to Kazakhstani scientists.