Your Excellency Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, President of the United States of Mexico,
Your Excellency Jaime Morales Carazo, Vice President of Nicaragua
Your Excellency Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, Secretary for External Relations,
Your Excellencies Ministers and High Authorities on Science and Technology of the member states of the Organization of American States,
Dr. Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, Director General of the National Council on Science and Technology of Mexico,
Dr. Ramón Latorre de la Cruz, winner of the Premio Mexico
Distinguished Delegates,
Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic corps,
Specially Invited Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a pleasure and an honor for me to address you today on the occasion of the Second Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Science and Technology.

This very meeting, in fact, is part of the preparatory process for the next Summit of the Americas, which will take place in April 2009 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, there are other sub-regional processes and meetings that take place, such as the Meetings of Ministers in Science and Technology of MERCOSUR and that of the Members of the Amazonic Cooperation Treaty, in the Southern Hemisphere and the Commission for Scientific and Technological Development of Central America and Panama (CTCAP), just to name a few.

The challenges facing member states today and the strategic importance of science, technology, engineering and innovation in all areas of development makes this Second Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Science and Technology is not only timely but essential.

I offer, also on behalf of the Organization of American States, Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and the General Secretariat, sincere condolences to the people and Government of Mexico for the loss of life and damage to properties due to the recent floods in the southern states of the country. The occurrence of natural disasters is more frequent these days and the impact more intense. This is an area which require the full attention of the political leaders of the Hemisphere.


At the outset, Mr. President and Madam Secretary, I would like to express our appreciation to you and Mexico’s deep commitment to the Organization of American States; your leadership is so strongly expressed by the hosting of this ministerial encounter as well as the recently concluded First Meeting of Ministers of Public Security here in Mexico City and we thank you for this commitment.

Dr. Ramón Latorre de la Cruz your sterling contribution to science and your advocacy in your areas of expertise has clearly been recognized. I therefore take this opportunity to congratulate you for having been awarded the prestigious Premio México en Ciencia y Tecnología.

I would also like to commend the Government of Mexico for establishing this award 18 years ago. I consider this as an initiative to be replicated throughout the Hemisphere in order to not only recognize the excellent work of scientists, but to motivate and encourage new lines of research in innovative fields.

The Organization of American States remains a vital pillar of the inter-american system as the premier political platform for consensus building and collective action, in a time when the member states are confronted with many challenges in terms of food security, energy sustainability, sustainable environmental development and now the impact on the financial and economic sectors.

As we all know the majority of the problems facing the member states of the OAS are cross-border in nature and multifaceted, and therefore can only be resolved through a genuine multilateral process of engagement and common action; it is in times like these that the inter-american system needs to be strengthened and united.

In the last half of the 20th Century more scientific and technological achievements than ever before in the history of humanity have been achieved. Today, more than ever, science and technology permeate every field of human endeavor, from the food we eat and the clothes we wear, to the energy we consume, the air we breathe, the health services we receive, the communications we use and even the way in which we teach and learn. For me therefore it is clear that science, technology and innovation should not be an isolated exercise, but an integral part of the strategic development policy and programming of any country.

The pivotal importance of the functional and strategic relationship between science and technology and the creation of prosperity in our societies cannot be understated. Science, technology, engineering and innovation are vital for preserving our natural resources which too often have been overexploited. The current food and energy crisis serve to highlight the need for continued support for research and development in critical strategic fields such as renewable energies and biotechnology.

I believe that the current technology gap and the differences in socio-economic development among the countries in this hemisphere need to be addressed and for this strong political commitment and budgetary support will be required. Taking into account the increasing interdependency in the Western Hemisphere, and the challenges and opportunities that accompany this relationship, I believe that concerted efforts should be made to provide financial and technical assistance to those vulnerable and small economies who do not have the required resources or institutional capacity to deal with some of the cross-border problems or make good use of existing opportunities for which they often lack the technology.


I believe that only by investing strategically can we expect improvements in quality of life and the general economic development of the region. These instruments should be considered critical for the future of our people and our nations.

Compared with the more advanced economies in Europe and Asia it becomes clear that raw materials and natural resources are not sufficient engines for economic progress and for creating intellectual wealth. These countries have strategically invested in educating their people, promoting research and development and increased overall spending in innovation oriented technologies. They have understood that science and technology are critical in transforming societies into environments of peace, stability and prosperity for all.

To achieve these strategic objectives of making our societies and economies more knowledge based and competitive in the global trading environment, partnership between the social actors in our societies is critically important. Governments alone cannot only be held responsible for this holistic approach to development, it requires in this case solid partnership and cooperation between Government, private sector and educational and research institutions, among others.

There are many success stories of public-private-partnerships in diverse fields, but most relevant here are those between the academic and scientific sector with industry. Our innovation systems and universities must be in constant communication with industry to both guide its research and applications, as well as to help prepare a better trained workforce that can meet future challenges.

In this sense, the role of new businesses established by university graduates is crucial to improve the current production structure in emerging economies. Global trends in academia and business are directed towards infusing graduates with a clear entrepreneurial spirit. Consequently, there is an urgent need for regional initiatives that successfully combine and promote engineering and entrepreneurship to foster development and growth. However, in comparison to Europe and Asia our Hemisphere lags behind in basic math and science education. Efforts must be made to correct this situation if we expect to be able to compete effectively internationally.

Beyond establishing meaningful partnerships at the national level, we also need to ensure that the we create appropriate partnerships at the regional level, so as to optimize the use of our financial and academic resources, so that we can create synergies between existing research programs, so that we can more effectively improve coordination and consultation ! Challenges like climate change, natural disasters, HIV/Aids, etc. can only be resolved through this process of hemispheric engagement.

I am pleased to observe that this second encounter of ministers on science and technology focuses strongly on the practical role science, technology, engineering and innovation can play in improving the life of the people in a positive manner by focusing on social issues of inclusion, poverty and hunger, on development conditions related to energy, biodiversity as well as on important pre conditions for social and economic progress such as human capacity building and a safe environment.



In closing, I leave you with the following five messages:

1. I appeal to the political leaders in the Western Hemisphere to give science and technology the right place in the strategic development policy of your country by creating synergies and strategic partnerships;

2. In addition to allocate more financial and human resources to science, technology and innovation to facilitate the transformation into a knowledge based society, able to apply cutting edge technology and research and to become effective in a competitive global environment;

3. Invest more in promoting education in mathematics and science early on in the curricula and provide incentives to those excelling in these areas;

4. Improve coordination hemispherically, promote hemispheric partnerships and optimize the use of resources;

5. The OAS is a natural platform to advance the hemispheric agenda in this regard and I reaffirm our commitment that we stand ready to play that role.

I wish the distinguished Ministers and High Authorities on Science and Technology fruitful discussions and I look forward to the concrete proposals which ultimately will improve the life of the people of the Americas.

I thank you for your kind attention.