Cuban, US scientists seek to cooperate
December 14th, 2011 - 2:55 pm ICT by IANS
Havana, Dec 14 (IANS/EFE) In a significant development, Cuban and US scientists said here Tuesday they believe progress is being made in future cooperation between their communities despite the complex relations existing between their respective governments for half a century.
“I think both sides can benefit from collaboration and that this is the best way to develop future projects,” the US winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Peter Agre, told EFE, during a recess of the meeting organised by the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Until Friday, 18 US scientists will analyze, together with experts from institutions on the island, possible avenues of cooperation for research projects in such areas as meteorology, the environment, genetics, biotechnology, tropical medicine and oceanography.
“There’s a lot we could learn from scientists in Cuba,” Agre, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said.
As an example he cited vaccines, treatments for malaria and other public health matters that have been studied on the island.
The scientist said that contacts are still meagre and described as “ridiculous” the idea that normal relations cannot exist between his country and Cuba.
The US visit takes advantage of the small opening for cultural and scientific exchanges that has been created in the last year between the two countries.
Exchanges between the two countries of a scientific, academic, sports and cultural nature are heavily restricted as part of the economic embargo that the US has imposed on the island since 1962. The Barack Obama administration announced last January a new easing of regulations on travel to Cuba from the US.
–IANS/EFE
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Tags: academy of sciences, american association for the advancement of science, association for the advancement of science, avenues, barack obama, economic embargo, efe, half a century, havana, johns hopkins university, malaria, nobel prize, oceanography, peter agre, public health matters, recess, research projects, travel to cuba, tropical medicine, vaccines