243 



OUR TRADITIONAL PROGRAMS FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND 

 TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION HAVE RARELY ADDRESSED THESE KINDS OF 

 LARGE ISSUES. YET YEAR BY YEAR THOSE ARE THE l_SSUES 

 DOMINATING HOW WE THINK ABOUT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN OUR 

 OWN COUNTRIES AND HOW WE THINK ABOUT PROGRAMS WE MAY WISH 

 TO UNDERTAKE TOGETHER. ONE APPROACH THAT WE'RE WORKING ON 

 IN OSTP, INITIALLY SUGGESTED BY THE JAPANESE/ IS TO BRING 

 THE MINISTERS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF INDUSTRIALIZED 

 COUNTRIES— OR INDIVIDUALS WHO, BY WHATEVER TITLE/ OVERSEE 

 THEIR GOVERNMENTS' R&D EFFORTS-TOGETHER FOR AN INFORMAL 



working conference. 



This ministerial meeting, which could take sometime 



LATER THIS YEAR, WOULD ALLOW EACH OF THE MINISTERS TO BRING 

 his OWN CONCERNS TO A COMMON MEETING GROUND FOR 

 DISCUSSION. For our own part, we would hope that THE 

 DISCUSSIONS WOULD ENABLE US TO ADDRESS SEVERAL PROBLEMS 

 THAT PARTICULARLY CONCERN US. ONE IS THE PRECARIOUS 

 SITUATION 1 MENTIONED IN EUROPE/ NOTABLY THE DIFFICULTY 

 THERE IN CREATING NEW JOBS. AS A POINT OF CALIBRATION/ 

 OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS WE IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE CREATED 

 26 MILLION NEW JOBS/ WHILE THE EUROPEANS HAVE MAINTAINED 

 ESSENTIALLY THE SAME NUMBER OF JOBS. OBVIOUSLY/ THE 

 ECONOMIC VITALITY OF EUROPE IS OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE TO 

 WORLDWIDE STABILITY. 



If IT SEEMS THAT THIS IS AN AWFULLY LARGE P.^OBL£M TO 



