It's Your Turn
Consulting Canadians
Others
2007
Negotiations
of an S&T Cooperation Agreement with Brazil
Closing date: June 20, 2007
As the Government of Canada prepares to enter into the actual process
of negotiations, your views and comments are sought on issues that
may be of interest to you in relation to a Science and Technology
(S&T) Cooperation Agreement that is going to be negotiated with
Brazil.
Background
In 2005, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT)
was provided with a mandate to negotiate a Science and Technology
Cooperation Agreement with the government of Brazil. This agreement
will be the final component of the International Science and Technology
Partnerships Program (ISTPP) to be delivered, following the successful
signings of agreements between Canada and Israel, India and China.
In March 2007, Canada held a Science, Technology and Innovation
Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil, during which DFAIT and the relevant
S&T ministries in Brazil signed a Declaration
of Intent to enter into the process of negotiations to
sign the Agreement.
As part of the consultation process pertaining to the upcoming
negotiations, Canadians are invited to provide comments on issues
that may be of interest in relation to the Agreement, by answering
the following few questions put to your consideration:
-
As Canada is going forward with negotiations on a S&T
treaty with Brazil, the starting point for the treaty text is
the text of the S&T Agreements Canada has signed with India
and China
since it is likely to be very similar. What improvements would
you like to see in the draft text Canada proposes to the Brazilians?
-
S&T Agreements usually provide a framework for cooperation,
and this framework includes provisions for Memoranda of Undertanding
(MOUs) which are used to set out the details of cooperation
projects. S&T Agreements can either allow any eligible person
or organization to enter into an MOU under the Agreement, or
it can restrict participants to those which the Parties (Canada
& Brazil) decide upon. Which of these two models would you
prefer?
-
Article 11 and Annex 1 of the Canada-China
S&T Agreement (pages 7 & 10 under that link) provide
a framework for the protection of intellectual property (IP)
under the Agreement. Would your organization be at all concerned
if similar language were to be used to cover the IP aspects
of a Canada-Brazil S&T Agreement?
- Do you have anything else your organization would like to bring
to our attention?
All interested parties are invited to provide written comments
no later than June 20, 2007.
Please send your contributions by email, mail or fax to:
E-mail: consultations@international.gc.ca
Fax: (613) 944-2452
Science and Technology Division (IIS)
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G2
Useful Links
2005
Canada-China
Science and Technology Agreement
Closing date: October 31, 2005
The Government of Canada is seeking comments on a Science and Technology
Agreement presently being negotiated with China. The principles
embodied in the proposed agreement can be found in the Canada-China
Joint Declaration on S&T cooperation.
Background
The February 2004 Speech from the Throne announced that more attention
needed to be paid to "newly emerging economic giants such as
India, China and Brazil". In addition, the International Policy
Statement stated that access to the opportunities presented by the
rapidly growing markets of China and India can be facilitated by
strengthening our bilateral S&T relations and building alliances
and partnerships in knowledge-based industries from the ground up.
The Chinese and Indian governments consider international S&T
Agreements to be vital instruments for strengthening relationships
with other countries.
Hence, in January 2005, the Prime Minister signed Joint Declarations
with both India and China that included a promise to pursue the
strengthening of bilateral S&T relations. During Minister Peterson's
visit to India in early April 2005, Canada and India signed a Joint
Declaration indicating the intent to sign a S&T Agreement. In
September, Canada and China also announced a similar Canada-China
Joint Declaration.
Canada-China S&T Agreement
The Canada-China S&T Agreement is well advanced. The Canadian
negotiating team visited Beijing on August 26 and more recently
met with Chinese negotiators in Ottawa on October 11 and reached
an agreement-in-principle on the text. Before the agreement is finalized,
we are consulting provinces and territories as well as Canada's
S&T community and other stakeholders, to ensure that Canadian
interests and needs are fully embodied and protected in the Agreement.
The Agreement provides a framework for: R & D collaboration;
facilitation of commercially viable research and development through
industry-to-industry and university-to-industry technology partnerships;
for researcher, scholar and graduate student visits and exchanges;
for the organization of conferences, seminars and symposia; and,
for exchanges of information. Also, we would like you to note that
the agreement provides protection for Intellectual Property.
Please provide written comments to Dave Church, Deputy Director,
Science and Technology Division at : dave.church@international.gc.ca
(fax: (613) 944-2452) no later than October 31, 2005.
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