NEXT COST MEETING MAY BE HELD IN CROATIA

LARNAKA, May 14 (Hina) - The regular annual meeting of the Committee of high officials of the European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST) ended on Tuesday on Cyprus, the Croatian Science and Technology Ministry reported. #L# COST was set up in 1971 at a ministerial conference of the European Community, EFTA countries, Turkey and former Yugoslavia and has since developed into one of the largest frameworks for scientific- technical co-operation. COST includes over 30,000 scientists from 33 European countries and several international institutions. The meeting on Cyprus, which was also attended by Deputy Science and Technology Minister Zdenko Franic, focused on the reorganisation of the COST administration, increased funding and a more efficient decision-making mechanism. This would enable COST to respond to the contemporary challenge of linking scientists into a European scientific-research network, one of the objectives of the European Union. Franic proposed that the next COST meeting be held in Croatia. A formal decision on the matter will be adopted later. Croatia has been a full COST member since 1992. It participates in 37 COST projects involving around one hundred scientists and many junior researchers. (hina) sp