CERN confirms Latvia’s readiness to become an associated member / Article / LSM.lv

Latvia fully complies with the criteria of an associate member of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), and on 10 December the CERN Council authorized CERN Director-General Fabio Gianot to start negotiations with Latvia on an association agreement with CERN,

After signing the agreement and ratifying it in the Saeima, Latvia will become an associate member of CERN already in 2021.

The CERN Expert Working Group, meeting with policy makers, scientific institutions and business representatives, assessed Latvia’s readiness to become an associated member of CERN on the basis of three main criteria:

• whether Latvia has the political will and appropriate financial instruments to ensure meaningful participation in CERN’s scientific programs in the long term;
• how strong the country’s high-energy physics community is or is it adequately funded to participate fully in CERN’s science projects;
• or industry – Latvian manufacturing companies have the appropriate capacity to successfully participate in CERN procurement.

The report of the CERN expert working group prepared after the visit to Latvia concludes that the delegation has a positive view of the Latvian government and parliamentarians’ understanding and readiness to provide sufficient funding for Latvia’s participation in CERN to enable the country to operate in the European science citadel.

The activities of the High Energy Particle Physics and Accelerator Technology Center of Riga Technical University, leading the CERN National Contact Point, and the interdisciplinary national research program “High Energy Physics and Accelerator Technologies” established by the Ministry of Education and Science, which involve the best scientists in the field, are also highly valued.

Five scientists from Latvia are already working at CERN. Four of them are participating in an experiment aimed at observing and capturing new physics phenomena using the Great Hadron Collider.

The CERN working group is also convinced that there are internationally competitive companies in Latvia that specialize in electronics, IT and other fields and are able to participate in the procurements announced by CERN, which are necessary to provide the center with the necessary support for scientific work.

“Latvia’s accession to CERN – one of the world’s most outstanding and prestigious scientific consortia – will allow Latvian scientists to make scientific discoveries in international, interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary partnerships, while the interaction of research business environment will promote innovation,” emphasizes Minister of Education and Science Ilga Šuplinska (New Conservative Party).

CERN has been the world’s leading scientific center for more than 60 years, with world-class scientific discoveries.

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