Ana Pesikan
Pesikan said in a press conference on the occasion of one hundred days of government work that scientists are active even when they retire and that their knowledge is precious for the development of science.
She announced that legislation on national pensions for scientists is in the making and noted that first pensions could be paid out in 2008.
Pesikan said that activities in science are slow and do not yield immediate results, adding that in mid-June Serbia became full member of the European science community.
We joined the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and thus got access to funds of €50 billion for researchers, the Minister of Science said.
She said the database on Serbian academic Diaspora is now being created noting that according to estimates there are between 150,000 and 500,000 Serbian young scientists abroad.
According to her, the Ministry granted 501 scholarships for MA and PhD studies amounting to RSD 24,000 per student.
It is important that we achieve the goal set by the government by 2010, which is 1% of the national budget for science, Pesikan said.