Washington, DC
October 17, 2005


A Science and Technology Umbrella Agreement will be signed in Washington DC on October 17, 2005 by Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice and Minister of State for Science & Technology, Biotechnology and Ocean Development Kapil Sibal. 

The signing ceremony will be held at 1130 am in the Treaty Room of the Department of State in the presence of Ambassador Ranendra Sen and other senior officials. (There will be a ‘photo spray’ during the event.)

This new agreement is expected to accelerate cooperation between Indian and U.S. scientists working in government agencies, private sector, and academia in areas such as basic sciences, space, energy, nanotechnology, health, information technology etc. The S&T Agreement will also complement the activity of the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum by facilitating follow-up technical collaborations. 

Minister Kapil Sibal will meet the press at the Embassy of India, 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008 at 1700 hours of the same day, i.e. October 17, 2005. Media persons are cordially invited for the same. 

Background:

Scientific and economic links between India and the United States have remained strong since the early 1960s, first in agriculture, and then spreading into a broad range of areas involving most U.S. government technical agencies. The United States and India established a $110 million PL480 ‘Rupee Fund’ in 1987 to promote and fund S&T collaboration and educational and cultural exchanges. The Rupee Fund Agreement, which stimulated a broad set of cooperative activity between the U.S. and India, continued until its funding authority expired in 1998. The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum was established in 2000 and endowed with a portion of the remaining rupee funds (Rs 320 million or approximately US $ 7 million).