763 



Potential Subject and Mati:re of Cooneration 



It may not be difficult to agree that scientific 

 and technological cooperation needs to be re-examined given the 

 changed situation, but an immediate question is whether there 

 are in fact sub.iects that could be proposed that are not 

 adequately covered in existing forums or mechanisms. 

 Discussions held in various OECD capitals 'in preparation of 

 this paper often focussed on this issue. 



This task of identification of candidate subjects 

 needs to be carried out by governments, possibly with some 

 OECD assistance, (a particular role for the OECD is proposed 

 and discussed later), in effect asking what programmes internally 

 had to be deferred because of budgetary constraints that might 

 go ahead if , the burden could be shared, v^hich might proceed 

 faster if costs and technical resources could be shared with 

 others, which might benefit from the technical competence 

 found in other countries, and which might be duplicative of 

 unknov/n but likely similar work in other countries. 



The exploratory discussions that were held, raised 

 possibilities in several fields that appear to justify further 

 examination. They can only be mentioned as a title here; 

 further elaboration is required in each case. The fact that 

 several candidate fields were tentatively identified for 

 further examination seems to give confidence that concerted 

 attention by governments is likely to identify others, and 

 with greater specificity. ■; "" ^ 



