Science & Tech Pact
With the new intellectual property rights regime in place, India is discussing an "umbrella pact" for cooperation in science and technology with the US.
With the new intellectual property rights regime in place, India is discussing an "umbrella agreement" for cooperation in science and technology with the US, which may be signed during forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to US later this month.
Stating this, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, who was on a US visit recently, pointed out that the draft of the umbrella agreement was discussed during his meeting with Dr John Marburger, Science and Technology Adviser to US President.
"The agreement, hopefully, may be signed during the forthcoming US visit of Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh)," he said.
The only hassle towards signing of an agreement was the issue of intellectual property created through joint research, he said.
"We are now moving forward to resolve the issue. The draft agreement will be negotiated to the satisfaction of both sides," he said.
The Minister also had discussions on other important issued such as clinical trials and import of biological material.
"During discussions with President of US' National Academy of Sciences, it was inferred that India can emerge as a centre for drug development," he said.
However, there is a lack of world class protocols between the two countries and Indian clinical trials are not accepted in US, he said adding the US' officials agreed that there was a need to move forward in this area.
