HARBIN, June 17. /TASS/. China plans to start four projects in 2019 linked with the creation of the NICA (Nuclotron-based Ion Collider fAcility) that is expected to be launched in Russia, Russia’s First Deputy Science and Higher Education Minister Grigory Trubnikov said at the 6th Russian-Chinese EXPO exhibition on Monday.

"NICA is one of six megascience projects in Russia. Under this project, a collider will be built at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, which, as scientists hope, will help understand, in particular, how protons and neutrons were formed in the Universe in the first moments after the Big Bang.

"We are discussing a joint project: creating a NICA heavy Ion Collider in Russia. China is actively participating in several elements of this project. We hope that this year four projects will be launched on the territory of China to participate in the NICA project," Trubnikov said.

These projects envisage creating new-generation detectors, a superconducting energy storage facility and research in the sphere of superconductivity, he said.

The NICA’s construction was launched on March 25, 2016 with the laying of the first foundation stone in Dubna. The first launch of the Collider with incomplete intensity is planned for 2019 and the facility will start operating at full swing in 2023.

The 6th Russian-Chinese EXPO under the motto: "China-Russia Inter-Regional Cooperation: the Opportunities, the Potential and the Future" is running on June 14-19.