PM Transcripts

S A A II A:
n> li7 r. r FPRESS STATEMENT January 1975
SIGNING OF SCIENCE AGREEMENT WITH U. S. S. R.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Whitlam, and Soviet
Prime Minister, Mr. Kos( gn, today signed in Moscow an
agreement between the Australian and USSR Governments
for scientific and technical cooperation. The agreement
will facilitate increased cooperation in both the natural
and social sciences. In the first instance five fields are to be given
priority for cooperation. They are: earth sciences, plant
industry, radioastronomy, etomology and textile technology.
Small groups of experts in these fields will e; change visits
so that long-term programs for cooperation can he prepared.
The first of these visits has been made by an
Australian group of earth scientists which toured the USSR
in December 1974, for discussions with their Soviet counterparts.
Soviet groups in textile technology and radi. oastronomy will
visit Australia in February for talks with Australian scientists
and inspections of laboratories. Other exchanges will take
place in subsequent months.
As a result of the prior negotiation of the
agreement there has already been a strengthening of
scientific cooperation between Australia and the USSR in
some of the priority areas. It is hoped that the agreement
will benefit scientific development in both countries, and
thereby contribute to furthering bilateral relations between
Australia and the USSR.
MOSCOW