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PhosAgro and UNESCO Extend Cooperation on Green Chemistry for Life ProgrammePARIS, Feb. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PhosAgro, one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have agreed to extend their cooperation on the Green Chemistry for Life programme, which provides grants for talented young scientists from all around the world, until the end of 2022. The agreement was reached at a meeting in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters during a ceremony to mark the opening of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. The meeting was attended by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azule, UNESCO Deputy-Director General for Natural Sciences Flavia Schlegel, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of PhosAgro and Vice-President of the Russian Union of Chemists Andrei G. Guryev, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of PhosAgro Andrey A. Guryev; and Deputy CEO for International Projects Siroj A. Loikov. During the conversation, questions regarding the need for further development of cooperation in support of research programmes and projects and the introduction of innovative technologies in chemistry and the chemicals industry. According to the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of PhosAgro, Vice-President of the Russian Union of Chemists Andrey G. Guryev, "the historic decision to launch the global 'Green Chemistry for Life' project, which has changed the fates of dozens of young scientists from around the world, was made eight years ago, right here at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, during the official opening of the International Year of Chemistry. "Since the programme was launched in 2013 at the initiative of UNESCO and PhosAgro, in close cooperation with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), more than 600 applications have been reviewed, grants were given to 34 young chemists from 26 countries who received new opportunities to conduct scientific research in the fields of healthcare, sustainable development, protection of the environment and human health," added Andrei G. Guryev. This project was the first in the history of UNESCO and the entire UN system to be implemented with financial support from a Russian business. The renewal of the agreement means that PhosAgro will have contributed a total of USD 2.5 million to the project between 2013 and 2022. Fro the very start of the project, this initiative has been supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO. In her welcome address at the official launch of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements at the Unesco headquarters in Paris, France, Unesco's director general Audrey Azoulay thanked PhosAgro for cooperation. UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences Flavia Schlegel noted that interest in research grants is high: "Every year we receive around 120 applications from young scientists. In other words, the Green Chemistry for Life project helped stimulate around 600 promising research projects from all around the world, thus contributing to the ongoing research in the field of green chemistry." PhosAgro CEO and Member of the Russian Federation Commission for UNESCO Andrey A. Guryev said: "When we started the Green Chemistry for Life programme, we were thinking primarily about having an influence on the criteria used in scientific research and about directing the efforts of young scientists towards the development of new technologies that will make it possible to use available resources efficiently and rationally, to engage in the further processing of secondary resources. Our common goal was and remains to popularise a new ethics of progress, whereby scientific and technological development taking place today will ensure the preservation of the natural diversity of our planet and the welfare of future generations. "Our ideas have received support from the scientific community, this project has resonated on a broad scale and has become an effective mechanism to stimulate scientific research. The efforts of an ever-growing number of people united around this project are aimed at the benefit of all mankind." Natalia Tarasova, former president of IUPAC, member of the programme's international scientific jury, director of the Institute for Chemistry and Sustainable Development, and head of the UNESCO department of Green Chemistry for Sustainable Development of the D. I. Mendeleev Russian Chemical Technical University noted that the competition is enabling new scientific thinking among young people. According to Tarasova, 80 per cent of the projects submitted involve high-level research. In 2018, the partnership programme between PhosAgro, UNESCO and IUPAC in the field of green chemistry added a new element with the organisation of an IUPAC Summer School on Green Chemistry in Venice, Italy, for which PhosAgro is the general partner. About the Company PhosAgro is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and higher. The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP). PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia. PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes. More information about PhosAgro can be found on the website: www.phosagro.ru.
SOURCE PhosAgro 
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