The first meeting of the Scientific Council of the IMBB was held after the summer break. Opening the meeting with an introductory speech, the Chair of the Council, Director General of the Institute, Academician Irada Huseynova, brought the agenda items to the attention of the Council members. I. Huseynova provided information about the historic visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Victorious Commander-in-Chief, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, to Washington, USA. She emphasized that the visit to Washington, the meetings held there, the agreements reached, and the documents signed should be regarded as an important milestone in the statehood history of our country. This visit once again confirmed that under the leadership of its President, Azerbaijan has risen to the level of a state that pursues an independent policy, has become a regional power, and is recognized by the world’s leading countries as a reliable partner. As the President stated: “Today, Azerbaijan is the driving force of stability, development, and cooperation in the South Caucasus and in a broader geography. Our position is clear, and our goal is peace and progress.” The historic Victory achieved in the 44-day Patriotic War has made our country the author of new realities. The restoration of our territorial integrity and the assurance of our sovereignty are not only a military-political triumph but also mean the opening of new opportunities for economic, social, humanitarian, and scientific progress. One of the most significant outcomes of the Washington visit is that the Great Victory and the new realities it has created are openly recognised by the United States and other world powers, which is an undeniable fact. During the trilateral meeting held in Washington, the Joint Declaration, consisting of seven articles, signed by the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, marked a historic turning point towards peace and cooperation in the South Caucasus region. It is a historic step in putting an end to decades-long confrontations and establishing lasting peace.

Next, the Council approved the revision of the dissertation topic of the former PhD student in the specialty 2422.01–Biotechnology (including bionanotechnologies), Aysu-Shovkat Hasanova, as well as the publication of the monograph “Evolution of carbon-concentrating mechanisms and physiological adaptation strategies” authored by Taliya Orujova, Leading researcher of the Laboratory of Enzymology of Photosynthetic Carbon Assimilation.

Next, the Council reviewed reports on the participation of Kave Baba, Researcher at the International Laboratory of Computational Structural Biology, in the European Crystallography Conference in Poznan, Poland, and of Nurmammad Mustafayev, Head of the Laboratory of Population Genomics, at the 5th International TURAZ Academy Congress in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. At the same time, issues such as the secondment of Ruslan Suleymanov, Junior Researcher at the Laboratory of Photobioenergetics, to Dokuz Eylul University in Turkiye, and Lala Ibadullayeva, engineer-programmer at the International Laboratory of Computational Structural Biology, to the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, were discussed, and positive decisions were made. Next, the Head of the Education Department, PhD, Associate Professor Samira Rustamova, provided information on the results of admissions to the Institute’s PhD program in 2024.

At the meeting, the Action Plan for the commemoration of the 5th anniversary of Memorial Day on September 27 and the 80th anniversary of ANAS was discussed.