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NAGO, Japan: Science and technology ministers from the Group of
Eight (G8) gathered Sunday in Nago, city of Okinawa Prefecture, to
confer on technological cooperation on measures against various
global challenges, including climate change and infectious diseases.
“Never before has science and technology
played such an important role in addressing such imperative issues
as climate change, frequently occurring disasters, biodiversity,
sustainable water, food and energy supplies,” said Fumio Kishida,
Japan’s state minister in charge of science and technology policy,
in a speech at the opening of the meeting.
Restricted by food and energy resources as well
as the earth environment, “we could only look to science and
technology to achieve sustainable development,” said Kishida, who
takes the chair of the one-day event.
Atop the agenda of the meeting are the three
major issues of international cooperation on research and
development to realize a low-carbon society, cooperation with
developing countries, notably African countries, on science and
technology, and cooperation in areas of research resources exchange
and sharing.
In order to promote cooperation between advanced
and developing countries in the field of technology, ministerial
representatives from China, Brazil, India, Mexico, the Philippines,
South Africa and South Korea have been invited to the meeting to
join in discussions with ministers from the United States, Germany,
Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Italy and Russia as well as the
European Union.
The G8 science ministers’ session is held in
the run-up to the G8 summit scheduled for July 7 to 9 at the Toyako
(Lake Toya) resort area in Hakkaido.
-- Xinhua
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