AGREEMENT WITH ITALY TO FACILITATE SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION WITH
EUROPEAN UNION
The new agreement
signed here yesterday with Italy will pave the way for enhanced
collaboration in scientific and technological fields not only
with Rome but the entire European Union Nations. This was stated
by the visiting Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy, Ms Margherita
Boniver after signing the new and unique agreement with the Minister
of State for Science and Technology, Shri Bachi Singh Rawat. The
Italian Minister said that joint projects will be promoted through
the European Union and other international organizations for funding
and joint technology transfer.
The other unique
aspects of the new agreement are: access and utilization of advanced
research facilities in each other’s country; virtual networking
of scientific research laboratories and academia from both sides;
establishment of joint research centers and labs as well as joint
centers of excellence. A joint committee to be established will
identify, approve and review the progress of implementation of
the programmes of cooperation. Another significant aspect is that
the two countries will strive for enhancing their industrial competitiveness
in the global market by way of new products and services based
on appropriate joint scientific research and development of technologies.
The levels of collaboration in the fields identified are highly
advanced in nature. Some of these areas include: aerospace, energy,
nano-technologies, information technology, electronics and civil
engineering, tele-communications, design engineering and technology,
advanced materials and bio-medical science.
The need for
a new agreement on Science and Technology was being felt by the
two sides for quite some time and hence decided to delink scientific
collaboration from the 1978 agreement covering culture and economic
cooperation.
