AG/RES. 1429 (XXVI-O/96)

HEMISPHERIC MEETING OF MINISTERS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

(Resolution adopted at the eighth plenary session, held on June 7, 1996)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the Declaration of Cartagena and the Plan of Action adopted at the Hemispheric Meeting of Ministers of Science and Technology; and

CONSIDERING:

That the General Assembly, in keeping with the Plan of Action of the Summit of the Americas and recognizing that scientific and technological development is a determining factor in achieving the competitiveness needed for successful economic integration, made appropriate provisions, through resolution AG/RES. 1315 (XXV-O/95), for holding a meeting of ministers of science and technology; and

That, at the Hemispheric Meeting of Ministers of Science and Technology, held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in March 1996, the ministers and authorities responsible for science and technology in the region, committed to a collective effort to promote regional cooperation in science and technology, adopted the Plan of Action, which includes specific steps designed to implement the agreements reached,

RESOLVES:

1. To thank and congratulate the Government of Colombia for its work in coordinating and hosting the Hemispheric Meeting of Ministers of Science and Technology.

2. To note and endorse the Declaration of Cartagena and the Plan of Action, adopted by the ministers responsible for science and technology.

3. To request the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) to consider, when it defines its funding mechanisms, measures that could facilitate the execution of scientific and technological development activities and programs, especially those recommended in the Plan of Action.

4. To instruct CIDI to consider the Plan of Action's specific recommendations:

a. To strengthen the inter-American agricultural research system being promoted by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the regional agricultural research fund recently set up at the Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), paying special attention to development of sustainable agricultural development and management of fragile ecosystems.

b. To advocate increased interaction among national, regional, and international agricultural research (CGIAR) systems.

c. To strengthen regional networks such as the Hemispheric Inter-University Scientific and Technological Information Network (RedHUCyT).

d. To promote technological cooperation among public and private companies in order to develop and use clean technologies making more efficient use of resources and by-products, facilitating pollution control, and reducing the environmental impact caused by the dumping of waste materials.

e. To strengthen the Inter-American Metrology System in order to standardize weights, measures, and standards to facilitate clearance systems in the region.

f. To enhance competitiveness and support employment-generating activities, especially in small- and medium-sized companies.

g. To support the development of indicators in science, technology, and innovation, such as those put forward by the OAS Working Group on Scientific and Technological Indicators and the Ibero-American Network of Indicators in Science and Technology of CYTED-D (Ibero-American Program on Science and Technology for Development).

5. To instruct CIDI to pay special attention to the small and relatively less developed countries when implementing its integral development policy in order to foster their scientific and technological development.

6. To urge the Working Group on OAS Cooperation regarding the Summit Conference on Sustainable Development to ensure that the recommendations on science and technology for sustainable development contained in the Plan of Action are taken into account in the deliberations of member states at the Summit Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in Bolivia.