THE Philippines can resort to “Science Diplomacy” in order to meet its commitments in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña told BusinessMirror that forging ties is needed mainly because of the common development challenges that countries face.
De la Peña said countries like the Philippines can also benefit fromthese partnerships by tapping into the expertise of various countries.
“Although the profiles of countries are different, the problems they face are the same. If poor countries like us are faced with an employment problem, for example, developed countries also face the same problem,” de la Peña said.
“There are many areas that we can work on together. And of course at our end, we also want to learn about areas that we do not have an expertise on,” he added.
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie G. Edillon said forging partnerships and linkages was the one thing the country was missing in its efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Edillon said at the time the country was working toward the MDGs, there was no “deliberate effort” to partner internationally.
Further, Edillon said, there is more cause to partner because of the need to turn to innovation and technology to meet the SDGs.
She said there are goals that cannot be met without using technology which many countries still do not possess or may be patented outside the country.
“I think because it’s an ambitious agenda, then there’s the realization that you need to make use of innovations, you need to make use of technology to make this happen,” Edillon said.
“In the case of the Philippines, the President just signed the Philippine Innovation Act. So we [in Neda] will be coming up with the IRR soon. We’re hoping to make use of the powers and the resources that are included in that Act to even further the SDGs,” she added.
De la Peña said that the DOST has signed various agreements with countries like South Korea, Israel, Iran, France, United Kingdom and the United States. He said the agreement with the United States was “finally” signed this week after four years of review.
These agreements pertained to cooperation and partnership such as research collaboration, sharing of information, exchange of people, sharing of publications, and other similar undertakings.
However, he said that this is not the first time the country signed an agreement with other countries. De la Peña said when he went to Paris, he found that there was an agreement signed in 1978 with France but the agreement was not implemented.
De la Peña added that the same thing happened to China when it sought an agreement with the Philippines. He said the DOST found that there was already an agreement signed.
An agreement was signed but neither side initiated any move to proceed further, he recalled, adding, “I’m not blaming the past leadership, but it depends on the [administration].”
In order to act on recent agreements signed, De la Peña said he will make good on these through regular coordination whether in person or through videoconference.
He added that he has even appointed an assistant secretary for international cooperation. De la Peña said part of the DOST’s efforts is to create a matrix that outlines these cooperation agreements to avoid duplication.
De la Peña said he is also happy that more ambassadors are putting an emphasis on science diplomacy. Such is Philippine Ambassador to Vienna Maria Cleofe R. Natividad, who considered Vienna as the hub of science diplomacy.
Natividad said the presence of organizations such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research or CERN as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) make Vienna a natural hub for scientists, including Filipino scientists.
“I’m very happy to report our Department of Foreign Affairs, particularly the embassies posted in different countries, are putting a lot of emphasis on science diplomacy. That’s one thing I can say about the Department of Foreign Affairs,” de la Peña said.