Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will visit the Swiss Confederation on 10–11 June.
On 10 June in Geneva, the Prime Minister will tour the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), the largest particle physics research centre. The centre is famous for its Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. Dmitry Medvedev will descend into an underground shaft of one of the four collider detectors, the ATLAS experiment cavern.
Then the Prime Minister will meet with Russian scientists who work at CERN. In all, 8,000 experts, including about 1,000 from Russia, are taking part in the centre’s international experiments. The conversation will cover the prospects of Russia’s participation in the centre’s projects and the opportunities created as part of the Science national project.
At a meeting with CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti, Dmitry Medvedev will discuss expanding cooperation and realising the potential of Russian participation both in intellectual and technology developments of the centre, as well as CERN’s interest in projects in Russia, in particular, those concerning the exchange of information, know-how, equipment and materials. The Russian delegation comprises Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, Minister of Science and Higher Education Mikhail Kotyukov, and leaders of Russia’s largest research centres.
On the second day of his visit to Geneva, Dmitry Medvedev will attend the International Labour Conference, which will be dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organisation. The Prime Minister will speak at a plenary session of the conference which will take place in the Assembly Hall of the UN Palace of Nations. On the sidelines of the International Labour Conference, Dmitry Medvedev will hold bilateral meetings, including with International Labour Organisation Director-General Guy Ryder.
As per tradition, participating countries are represented by the governments, leaders of trade unions and heads of employer associations. The Russian delegation comprises Tatyana Golikova, Minister of Labour and Social Protection Maxim Topilin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, and Chairman of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia Mikhail Shmakov.