Foreign and Military Affairs

Mexican scientists seek exchange with China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-20 11:41

MEXICO CITY - Mexican scientists are seeking cooperation with their Chinese counterparts on biotechnology and nanotechnology based on an agreement on exchanges of information and personnel, the president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC) said on Wednesday.

"We are looking to create specific teams of experts in nanotechnology and biotechnology by exchanging scientists for visits of a few months," AMC president Rosaura Ruiz said. "We are about to sign a formal agreement on an exchange program."

The AMC has been seeking contacts in particular with corresponding institutions in China, India and Brazil in the framework of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).

Officials of the AMC and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have been meeting regularly on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) meetings, which include the world's 20 largest economies.

"Academies all over the world understand that only based on international cooperation can science develop," Ruiz said. "Science is a cooperative activity by its very nature."

Both China and Mexico have a host of industries manufacturing goods designed and consumed in richer nations, Ruiz said. She noted that China was taking action to replace imported technologies with home grown innovation.

"What is happening in China is something that has provoked a little envy among the Mexican scientists," Ruiz joked. "There is clearly a big push to develop sciences. China has decided to stop being an importer and copier of technologies and to become a creator of new technologies."

The AMC, which enjoys financial support from Mexico's Education Ministry, is only one of a group of similar Mexican bodies that are trying to boost relations with China. The Federal District Science and Technology Institute (ICyTDF), which is run by the Mexico City government, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), which is funded by the central government, also have active and expanding exchange programs with some Chinese institutions.

The ICyTDF has sent 18 young scientists to Beijing to study environmental technologies. The UNAM is set to launch a similar program next week.

Ruiz said the AMC's bid to link with China was part of the organization's efforts for internationalization and scientific chances.

"We are discussing the policies that need to be developed to boost south-south cooperation," she said. "Science is very much an international activity."