Brunei Darussalam is also
offering graduate research scholarship in those areas for students from Asean
member countries.
This was one of the statements
made by the Minister of Development Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri
Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Hj Osman as chair, at the closing of the 7th
Informal Asean Ministerial Meeting on Science and Technology (IAMMST-7) yesterday.
The meeting convened science and
technology ministers and senior officials from Asean member nations.
Four events were conducted prior
to IAMMST-7: the workshop on how to operationalise the Krabi Initiative (KI);
the 218t meeting of the advisory body on the Asean Plan of Action on Science
and Technology (ABAPAST); the 20th Meeting of the Advisory Body on the Asean
Science Fund (ABASF); and the 64th Meeting of the Asean Committee on Science
and Technology (COST).
Pehin Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi
said the ministers concurred that the 80 per cent utilisation of the earnings
from the Asean Science Fund (ASF) placements as provided for in the ASP
guidelines will not be enough to support science, technology and innovation
(STI) activities.
The ministers welcomed the
proposal for the establishment of an Asean Innovation Fund (AIF) to support the
implementation of STI-driven projects. They agreed that mechanisms shall be
developed to encourage and enable the participation of the private sector, dialogue
partners and international agencies to contribute to AIF. Such contributions
will leverage resources in COST and collaborative activities and projects with
the potential for revenue generation.
While expressing support to the
proposal, the ministers noted that establishing new fund would require careful
study and analysis, especially on how to sustain the fund. The ministers
requested the ABAPAST and ABASF to jointly develop the concept paper on the
establishment of the AIF. Once the concept paper is developed, the ABASF shall
take the lead in implementing the proposed actions in determining the
feasibility of establishing the AIF.
The meeting also noted the
progress of the augmentation of the Asean Science Fund (ASF). The ministers
endorsed the proposal of the ABASF to amend a provision in the guidelines on
the use of ASF. The amendment mandates the ABASF to identify, review and
recommend projects for the consideration and approval of COST.
The ministers welcomed the
launching of the China-Asean Science and Technology (STEP) programme at the
Asean-China Ministerial Meeting on Science and Technology on Sept 21, 2012 in
Nanning, China. Recognising the serious intent of China to cooperate with Asean
in S&T, the ministers tasked COST to expedite the finalisation of the draft
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Asean-China cooperation in science and
technology.
The ministers also noted that the
Asean-India Fund (AIF) shall henceforth be used to support people-to-people
type of cooperation, including technology development activities while the
Asean-India Science and Technology Development Fund (AISTDF) shall be used to
support all other Asean-India S&T cooperation activities.
The meeting welcomed the proposal
of the Philippines to lead in the development of the concept paper in
establishing scientific standards in Asean.
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