New Delhi - India and the executive arm of the European
Union will set up a corpus fund of 10 million euros (14.7 million
dollars) for research in nanotechnology, a top European Commission
official said Wednesday.
'We are for a joint call which will focus on collaborative
research. The effort will receive support of about 5 million euros
from each party,' the commission's director general for research,
Jose Manuel Silva Rodriguez, said at a news briefing in New Delhi.
Rodriguez is on a two-day visit to India to attend the fourth EU-
India Science and Technology Cooperation Steering Committee meeting
scheduled for Thursday.
'Through this initiative, best institutions in India and the EU
will have the opportunity to work together in this important field,'
Rodriguez was quoted as saying by IANS news agency. He said the
project funding may start as early as May 2008.
'We are meeting Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Science and
Technology Minister Kapil Sibal to decide finer nuances of the
research areas,' Nicholas Hartley, acting head of industrial
technology for the commission, said.
'Both the EU and India have enormous potential in this field. We
have not signed any such agreement with any other country,' Hartley
added.
Thursday's steering committee meeting is expected to discuss
strategic initiatives and finalize details of the first EU-India
coordinated call for research proposals.
More than 100 Indian research institutions have participated in
over 80 research projects funded by the EU.
India and the EU signed a science and technology cooperation
agreement in 2003.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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