India and Iran have
agreed to strengthen and expand scientific and technological relations
between the two sides. This emerged at a meeting over the weekend
between the Iranian Minister for Science, Research and Technology
Mostafa Moin, who was here for the General Conference of the Third
World Academy of Sciences and the Minister for Human Resource
Development and Science and Technology Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi.
The two leaders reviewed the progress made so far in scientific
cooperation between both sides and agreed that it needs to be
toned up. Dr. Joshi will soon be visiting Teheran for follow-up
discussions and firming-up programmes of cooperation.
Dr. Joshi had told
the visiting Iranian Minister that progress in the implementation
of various programmes identified for collaboration has been tardy
and that it is essential for scientists of both the sides to undertake
exploratory visits. He impressed upon Mostafa Moin that such exchange
of visits will alone provide the required impetus for strengthening
joint cooperation. Mostafa Moin sought India’s support for Iranian
programmes relating to information technology, particularly software
and in specific areas relating to medical and agriculture biotechnology.
It may be recalled
that the first meeting of the Indo-Iranian Joint Working Group
on Science and Technology held in December 1996 had identified
a number of areas including alternate energy, electronics and
communications, drugs and pharmaceuticals, metallurgy, oil and
petro-chemicals and technology management besides biotechnology
and information technology, for collaboration.
