India and Finland on Thursday signed three agreements to boost cooperation in science and technology. Both the countries also decided to set up a Joint Business Council and address climate change.
The agreements were signed during the India-Finland Technology Partnership Forum meeting here in the presence of Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen.
“We know that India is a country where one can find high knowledge potential,” Mr. Pekkarinen said pointing out that the research and development sector in Finland was witnessing radical reforms.
Mr. Chavan said India was committed to more than double the spending on science and technology to up to two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
In a separate meeting, Mr. Pekkarinen met Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and discussed subjects of mutual interest and cooperation, particularly the issue of environment and clean technology.
Mr. Sharma said the issue of technologies related to the environment must be looked at in the context of the monumental challenges of development and poverty alleviation. He said that poverty was the biggest polluter and unless and until the discussion on climate change provided for technology transfer backed up by resource transfer to the poorer countries, the objective of mitigation would not be achieved.
“We are conscious of the need to have clean technology and have been assessing various technologies for mitigation and adaptation. The issue really is, however, of how to make technology accessible to the poorer countries, given the fact that these are protected by IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights) and are often out of their reach. The issue, therefore, is one of balance and sharing in the interest of humankind at large,” he added.
Mr. Pekkarinen said Finland was keen on cooperating with India in high-technology sectors. With Finland’s resources and India’s huge knowledge potential, the cooperation could be extremely fruitful.
