BuaNews (Tshwane)
Edwin Tshivhidzo
7 May 2008
Pretoria — A meeting between South Africa and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday agreed to strengthen co-operation in the fields of research and education networking.
The 7th Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC) meeting was held in Pretoria.
According to the two parties, the agreement would be carried out through the interconnection between the South African National Research and Education Network (SANReN) and the European GEANT2 network.
The two parties also agreed to undertake renewed efforts to promote exchanges of South African and European researchers using FP7 mobility instruments such as the Marie Curie fellowships.
The JSTCC is tasked to review scientific and technological co-operation between South Africa and the EU and to develop initiatives to improve collaboration.
Senior South African and European delegations were respectively led by the Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Dr Philemon Mjwara, and the Director General of the European Commission's Directorate General Research, Jose Manuel Silva Rodriguez.
The South African delegation briefed the European Commission on the implementation of the country's 10-Year Innovation Plan and the creation of the Technology Innovation Agency, whilst the European Commission provided an update on the evolution of various European Research Area policy initiatives.
"Both sides expressed their commitment to work for further growth of their co-operation as well as deepening of science and technology policy dialogue, especially with regard to the harnessing of knowledge and innovation for sustainable development and poverty alleviation in Africa," said the Department of Science and Technology spokesperson, Zama Mthethwa.
"South Africa's science and technology partnership with the European Union remains a top priority for the DST," commented the DST's Director-General, Dr Philemon Mjwara.
"Not only is our cooperation an essential instrument to ensure South African researchers' participation in global scientific endeavour of the highest level of excellence, but it also a truly mutually beneficial engagement," he said.
He said South African expertise and experience are valuable contributions to joint efforts with Europe to address shared global challenges.
"Since 10 years, the Science and Technology co-operation between the EU and South Africa consistently deepened and expanded," said Mr Manuel Silva Rodriguez.
"I am confident that our cooperation will grow from strength to strength over the coming years," he added.
Since the signing of the Agreement on Scientific and Technological (S&T) Cooperation between the European Union and South Africa in 1996, a rich and diverse S&T partnership has been fostered.
South Africa was one of the top international participants in the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).
South African researchers took part in 117 international projects, with the South African participants receiving a total amount of 13.856.655 EUR, ranking it fourth, behind the United States of America, China and the Russian Federation, in terms of successful FP6 participation by non-EU countries.
The JSTCC took note with satisfaction of the successful participation over the past year by South African researchers in the first rounds of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research.
So far, there had been 47 South African participations in FP7, with the South African participants receiving a total amount of 6.018.069 EUR in funding.
Of especial importance was the successful South African participation in the highly competitive aeronautics and air transport, as well as nuclear energy.
The latter projects included the participation of South African organisations such as SASOL and the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation.
The JSTCC also noted progress made to broaden the range of South African Framework Programme participants to include industrial partners, beyond the South African universities and public-funded Science Councils, which were already participating with success in the Programme.
At the meeting, the JSTCC also agreed on a number of targeted initiatives to promote future FP7 cooperation in specific FP7 thematic priorities such as health research (poverty related communicable diseases), food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology, environment (climate change and sustainable development) and information and communication technologies (ICT).
South Africa and the European Union will also co-operate closely in supporting the implementation of the Science, Information Society and Space Partnership of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy adopted at the Africa - EU Summit held in Lisbon, Portugal in December 2007.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
