The U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) renewed their mutual cooperation and signed a five-year, inter-academy agreement to use their expertise in science, engineering, and medicine to jointly address their countries' most pressing challenges.

NAS President Ralph J. Cicerone and Nikolai P. Laverov, a vice president at RAS, welcomed representatives from both academies at the historic NAS building in Washington, D.C. Professors and specialists spoke at the event on advances in biomedical research and the transforming energy sector, which are among the many issues that NAS and RAS hope to address through 2018. Cicerone said he looked forward to "another five years of fruitful and engaging partnership" between NAS and RAS. He noted that significant work lay ahead of both institutions to solve the "difficult, pressing problems that face our two countries."

Photo credit: The National Academies

The event builds on decades of collaboration between the two organizations. In 1959, NAS and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR -- now RAS -- signed their first agreement to promote "scientific cooperation between American and Soviet scientists."

Photos from the event