The ceremony for the start of the FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) project took place in Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung
(GSI, Darmstadt, Germany) on December, 7 2007. The budget of the project is more than a billion euros. The project is financed by more than 10 different countries including Russia. Annette Schawan, Federal Minister of Education and Research of Germany, addressed her welcoming speech to the participans. CAS was represented on this ceremony by Prof. V.A.
Yerokhin.