The Vietnam National Fund for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) and the Research Foundation – Flanders of Belgium (FWO) will each dole out an annual budget of 300,000 EUR for joint research projects.

Officials from the two funds reached consensus on the cooperation programme during their meeting in Brussels on Sept. 24, where they shared experiences in the management of areas of research and research projects.

The joint research cooperation programme will be implemented over two years, beginning in 2009, and might be extended if it reaps good results.

The officials informed each other of the receipt of research proposals which focus on a wide range of areas, including mathematics, computing and information science, chemistry, biology, medical and health sciences, geo-science, environmental and agricultural science, engineering, materials research, as well as social and economic sciences.

NASFOSTED Executive Director Phan Hong Son said the two sides will make final decisions on what proposals are eligible for funding in November.

The cooperation programme will create a new “play ground” for Vietnamese scientists, thereby improving their capacity in conducting basic research, Son added./.