Southern Federal University took active part in meetings of working groups within framework of XX session of Intergovernmental Commission in Cuba

From May 17 to May 19, 2023, the twentieth meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Cuban Commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation was held in Havana, the capital of Cuba. 

The SFedU delegation took part in the work of the group on cooperation in the field of science, technology and environment, and in the meeting of the working group on education. 

The Russian-Cuban Working Group on Cooperation in the field of science, technology and environment included not only the representatives of universities and scientific organizations, but also those of leading companies, enterprises and corporations of Russia and Cuba. The Chairman of the meeting on the Russian side was P. Kucherenko, State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The Cuban side was represented by A. Rodriguez Batista, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba. The participants of the working group highly appreciated the results of cooperation between Southern Federal University and the universities of Cuba: the University of Havana, the University of Computer Science, the Central University, the Agrarian University, the Technological University of Havana, the University of Holguin, etc.

SFedU presented its proposals on the development of cooperation in various areas, and in particular, cooperation in projects related to the creation of electric power systems (including autonomous ones) based on renewable energy sources; the development and implementation of precision farming technologies; soil management; ecology, agro-climatology, engineering, robotics, intelligent control technologies and information processing were mentioned. Special attention was paid to the prospects of joint research in the field of transformation of water resources caused by anthropogenic pressure, climate change and assessment of risks associated with natural and man-made disasters (destruction of shores, inundations, floodings, oil spills), vulnerability of natural complexes, population and economy, as well as to the assessment of vulnerability and the degree of transformation of landscape amid oil pollution, to the determination of characteristics of the gas conditions of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of the arid zone, including greenhouse gases, etc. 

The proposals of SfedU on the development of joint fundamental and applied research in the field of artificial intelligence, computer technology and information security, the formation of international research groups aroused great interest. International research of the following issues will be conducted: monitoring of web resources in order to identify fake news; design of autonomous cyber-physical systems in protected execution; development of system and application software for scientific and educational activities and the formation of repositories of trusted application services (packages), datasets, etc. 

Following the results of the presentations of SFedU projects, representatives of several Cuban companies and centers contacted the members of the delegation, among them: Director General of the GEOCUBA Research Corporation, Director of the Gamma Foundation's Environmental Department, etc. 

The Russian-Cuban Working Group on Education included representatives of Cuban and Russian universities. P. Kucherenko on the Russian side, and R. Velasquez Saldivar, Deputy Minister of Higher Education of the Republic of Cuba, on the Cuban side, chaired the meeting.

During the meeting, the members of the delegation confirmed that SFedU is willing to develop and deepen contacts between Russia and Cuba in the educational, socio-cultural and scientific fields; to facilitate the organization and conduct joint cultural, educational and research events; to develop and implement joint online educational programs in various areas; to promote the formation of research collaborations in various fields of knowledge. The question of opening a branch and preparatory faculty of SFedU in Havana and the main directions of activities were touched upon separately. One of the speeches of the representatives of the delegation was devoted to the participation of our university in competitions of scientific projects. 

On May 19 , 2023 in the assembly hall of the University of Havana in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko, Representatives of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia and the Ministry of Higher Education of the Republic of Cuba signed a special agreement on the establishment of the laboratory of advanced computer technologies of SFedU and the University of Havana and a Letter of Intent on the formation of an international research group of the Botanical Garden of SFedU and the National Botanical Garden of the University of Havana on the conservation and reproduction of plant biodiversity and soil.

On the same day, Rector of the University of Havana Miriam Nicado Garcia and Director of the Institute of Computer Technology and Information Security Gennadiy Veselov inaugurated the joint laboratory of advanced computer technologies of SFedU and the University of Havana in the building of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. During the grand opening of the joint laboratory, Gennadiy Veselov presented the Rector of the University of Havana with a training stand “LabBoard 1.1”, developed by SFedU for use in education and research in the construction of high-potential cyber-physical systems.

During the visit to Cuba, the delegation also visited the Havana University of Technology named after Jose Antonio Echeverria, and signed the Agreement on Inter-university Cooperation and the Special Agreement on Academic Exchange and Mobility of Students and Professors. 

The delegation also held working meetings with representatives of the University of Computer Science and the GEOCUBA Research State Corporation. 

The delegation of Southern Federal University included Natalia Karpovskaya, the Rector's Plenipotentiary Representative in the Ibero-American area, Acting Director of the International Institute of Interdisciplinary Education and Ibero-American Studies of SFedU, Gennadiy Veselov, Director of the Institute of Computer Technologies and Information Security, and Maria Shevtsova, senior lecturer of the International Institute of Interdisciplinary Education and Ibero-American Studies of SFedU.