930 



Bilateral science agreements consist mainly of activities to exchange 

 personnel. U.S. and foreign scientists exchanged abroad to conduct 

 joint research, attend and chair seminars, attend meetings, and 

 engage in other forms of information exchange. The Foundation's 

 activities as implementing agency generally consist of funding; coor- 

 dinating funding and programmatic elements contributed by other 

 U.S. Agencies; and, in the case of agreements it directly administers, 

 binational formulation of annual programs and selection and monitor- 

 ing of U.S. scientific participation. 



The purposes of these agreements, according to the Foundation, are 

 to: 



(1) encourage and support U.S. scientific participation in international science 

 programs and activities that promise maximum benefits to the United States 

 from the funds invested; (2) produce new scientific knowledge through the support 

 of U.S. participation in cooperative efforts with foreign scientists; (3) promote 

 shared use of unique scientific facilities in cooperating countries; and (4) strengthen 

 national prestige and contribute to the achievement of U.S. fopign policy ob- 

 jectives. '^o 



Bilateral science agreements vary considerably in their origins and 

 scope and in their scientific and diplomatic underpinning. It is gen- 

 erally acknowledged that most of these agreements are politically 

 motivated. ^^^ Most of them were agreed upon soon after visits between 

 political leaders and were intended to strengthen international rela- 

 tions between States. However, to develop fruitful scientific programs, 

 the agreements provide that details for cooperation are to be worked 

 out in joint scientific/diplomatic negotiations. 



The agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union, 

 and the countries of Eastern Europe, administered by the National 

 Academy of Sciences, support scientific exchanges which could not 

 occur in the absence of mutually agreed upon terms of reference. They 

 support exchanges onh^ on a quid pro quo basis and thus differ sub- 

 stantially from the less formal agreements the Foundation administers 

 direct^. Most NSF-implemented agreements are designed to comple- 

 ment or supplement other previous governmental and nongovern- 

 mental scientific exchanges between the signatories. However, political 

 and scientific purposes differ from one agreement to another. For in- 

 stance, the bilaterals with Japan and France are based on the need to 

 induce Americans to conduct activities in countries where they had 

 been disinclined to go. Australian and Italian bilaterals are designed 

 primaril}'^ to assist the foreign scientific community by providing them 

 with a centralized research and development funding source and 

 additional justification for conducting scientific activities in the United 

 States. Bilaterals with the developing countries, those recently signed 

 with Latin American States, and the agreement entered into under 

 provisions of the expanded defense treaty with Spain, are for technical 

 assistance. 



The number of bilaterals to which the United States is a signatory 

 has been increasing significantly in recent j^ears. The increasing 



160 U.S., National Science Foundation, Justification of Estimates of AppTopriations, to the Congress, Fiscal 

 Year 1974, 1973, p. O-l. 



161 See the sections below on bilaterals administered by the NSF and the NAS. Cf. also the following 

 comment by the State Department: "... The newer [bilateral] agreements . . . have been stimulated 

 by political events and for pohtical considerations . . . ". ("U.S. Scientific and Technological Agreements 

 with Other Countries", International Science Notes, Published by Bureau of International Scientific 

 and Technological Aflairs, Department of State, 25 (September 1970), p. 2.) 



