Japan says tsunami won’t halt its science collaborations

Japan will continue to support its Strategic International Cooperative Program to promote good science communication and collaborative research in developing countries, despite the economic disaster that has followed the country’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown earlier this year, said Akira Takamatsu, executive director of the Japan Science and Technology Agency.

Japan's earthquake will not affect the country's collaborative research with developing countries, the conference heard. Credit: Flickr/yisris

“The earthquake that happened in Japan will not in any way make us stop the collaborative research that we had started with developing countries,” said Takamatsu.

“We have adopted 60 projects in the developing world, and we are looking into various aspects of research in areas like environmental and energy preservation, bio-resource utilisation and natural disaster prevention. ”

The program also focuses on fostering technological exchange between Japan and developing counties.

Mercy Adhiambo, SciDev.Net contributor in Kenya