772 



3. The OECD can have a most important "forcing" 



or "trigs<5r" function ('.vhat one senior official called 

 "international scratching powder"), given the fact 

 that governments do not as a regular matter canvass 

 their activities to identify possible subjects for 

 cooperation, and do not easily take initiatives on 

 their ov/n to develop multilateral cooperation. Thus, 

 in addition to a continuing receptivity for ideas, 

 there would be a periodic, say every three-four years, 

 request to governments for a special effort to explore 

 and propose areas for cooperation. 



4. The OECD might also undertake specific studies 

 or seminars in those fields for which national 

 programmes are not widely known, and thus for which 

 prior exchange of national programme information is 

 necessary before cooperation can be usefully considered. 



5. The OECD could also usefully study how to lower 

 the barriers to effective cooperation for specific 

 fields or categories of cooperation. In particular, 

 proposals for more effective ways of cooperation in 

 "research planning" would make substantive cooperation 

 much easier. At present the great difficulties inherent 

 in meshing plans where each country operates on its ov/n 

 schedules are often a serious barrier, especially to 

 long-range cooperation. 



