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Department's most recent energy policy plan, the National Energy 

 Policy Plan, points out that it is incumbent upon the United States 

 as the world's largest producer and consumer of energy resources 

 to play a leading role in promoting cooperative approaches in 

 mutual energy concerns of the free world. 



At the initiative of the Department of Energy, it is expected that 

 Secretary Herrington, along with other energy ministers of the 

 International Energy Agency member countries, will endorse the 

 concept of increased international collaboration at an lEA ministe- 

 rial meeting next month, in the month of July. We anticipate that 

 this will facilitate further efforts to increase international collabo- 

 ration, including sharing of program plans with other countries, co- 

 ordinating where possible, jointly designing our programs to take 

 greater advantage of the ongoing and planned work in various par- 

 ticipating countries. 



We are putting a particular emphasis on coordinating plans. It 

 has been our experience that where we have had the opportunity 

 to get together at an early stage in the development of a program, 

 there is much greater potential for real cooperation. Where we 

 have a project in mind, have designed it, and then are ready to go 

 out to ask people to help us build it, we have run into much more 

 static. So our approach now is to try to bring the potential coopera- 

 tive partners together at an early stage in the planning of major 

 activities. 



Significant obstacles still exist which must be overcome. I would 

 like to mention a few. We do have, and we have felt them in the 

 Department, a problem in connection with long-term commitments. 

 This contrasts somewhat with some of the testimony you heard 

 earlier. 



As a result of some major past programmatic exchanges in areas 

 involving international cooperation that DOE was involved in, we 

 have become, indeed, perceived among some of our international 

 friends as an unpredictable and unreliable partner. There are a 

 few very notable examples of this, and they came about as a result 

 of major budget perturbations in the past. 



Unlike many other countries, we do operate on an annual budget 

 cycle which can, on occasion, result in unexpected and sudden 

 changes. Some of our partners tend to feel a much stronger com- 

 mitment to international activities and hence a commitment to 

 proceed even though there are some internal changes. 



Next we must recognize, and hopefully adjust, some of our poli- 

 cies and procedures regarding international R&D cooperation to 

 minimize administrative impediments, and there are a number of 

 real ones. National laws, regulations, and policies were not made 

 with extensive international collaboration in mind. 



For example, cross participation in projects through the provi- 

 sion of scientific equipment and components for major facilities is 

 in some cases hampered by tariffs and taxes. Exchange of scientific 

 staffs for periods of several years would be facilitated by changes in 

 the visa and work permit regulations, by issues such as insurance 

 and other items of that type. We are trying to examine these sorts 

 of administrative issues and address them in a number of interna- 

 tional bodies. 



