International cooperation of the Latvian Academy of Sciences

The Latvian Academy of Sciences (LAS) is involved in bi- and multilateral cooperation  with the Academies of sciences  and science  organizations in other countries. At the beginning of 2008 there were 29 bilateral co- operation agreements  with partners in Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Canada, Russia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Sweden, Taiwan and Ukraine. These agreements  foresee mutual exchange in scientists between countries and annual quotas for the equi- valent exchange. Scientists from all research institutions and universities can participate in this exchange.

The  Latvian  Academy  of  Sciences  continually represents   the  Latvian science  community  in  non-governmental  Global and  European  scien- tific organizations: International Council for Science (ICSU), International Union of Academies of Humanities and Social sciences  (UAI), European Federation of National Academies of Sciences  and Humanities (ALLEA). Due to Latvia’s accession  to EU, the Academy also joined the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), established  by the acade- mies of EU member states. The Latvian Academy of Sciences is a member of the Global networks: Inter-Academy Panel on International Issues (IAP) and Inter-Academy Medical Panel on Global Health Issues (IAMP).

The Latvian Academy of Sciences members  have been entrusted  by the government  to  represent  Latvia  in the  NATO  Science  Committee  and the EU Scientific and Technical Research  Committee (CREST), which is the  main advisory body to the  Council of Ministers and the  European Commission regarding research and technology.

LAS has  signed  an agreement  on scientific cooperation  with UNESCO and  apart  from  this  continually cooperates   with  the  Latvian  National Commission (LNC)  for UNESCO.  LAS vice-president leads  the  Science Program Council of UNESCO LNC. In 2005, LAS together  with UNESCO LANC and L’Oreal Baltic jointly launched the fellowships For Women  in Science, which are granted annually.

The initial regional cooperation of the three Baltic (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian) academies of sciences, started in the beginning of 1990’s, has been expanded to regular joint meetings of Baltic and Nordic academies of sciences.   The highlights of regional cooperation are the regular Baltic Conferences on Intellectual Cooperation, which are organized on a rota- tional basis (biannually).