ASEAN forms technology fund

ASEAN forms technology fund

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Southeast Asian nations on Saturday agreed
to raise US$ 10 million for more cooperative science projects at
a meeting for science and technology ministers from the region.

The ministers from nations in the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, or ASEAN, met in Genting Highlands, a hill resort
in Malaysia, and agreed that the money will be used to boost the
ASEAN Science Fund initiated in 1989.

Malaysian science, technology and environment minister Law
Hieng Ding said strengthening the fund was part of an overall
effort toward better science and technology cooperation in the
region.

Law said the meeting assessed the science and technology
cooperation in the region. It also discussed goals for the new
century and mapped out the required strategy to attain those
goals, taking into consideration the ASEAN Vision 2020.

The ASEAN Vision 2020 describes as its goal a technologically
competitive Southeast Asia with an adequate pool of qualified and
trained people and strong networks of technological institutions.