China, Japan and S. Korea agree to strengthen science ties
China, Japan and South Korea have held their first ever trilateral science ministers' meeting, resulting in an agreement to strengthen ties in areas including the environment and energy. The ministers - Kim Woo-sik (South Korea), Bunmei Ibuki (Japan) and Xu Guanhua (China) agreed that the meeting set the stage for future cooperation. The agreement is unlikely to go unnoticed in Europe, where Japan has long been regarded as a major competitor. The threat to European competitiveness posed by emerging economies such as China and South Korea is also a major concern for European policy makers. In addition to working together on environmental protection and energy development, the ministers signed up to cooperation on disaster prevention and management, protecting intellectual property rights, advancing traditional sciences including oriental medicine, and expanding student exchanges. The agreement will also see the sharing of information and know-how, and measures to improve the evaluation of research results. Ministers also called for the three countries to work together to support technology-oriented small and medium sized enterprises, and high-tech venture companies. The nuclear research institutes in China, Japan and South Korea will also exchange information. The next trilateral science meeting will take place in Japan in 2008.
Countries
China, Japan, South Korea