April 23, 2015
No. 070
Slovakia Representative to the ROC Michal Kovac and ROC Representative to Slovakia Andrew Y. Chang signed the Agreement between the Taipei Representative Office, Bratislava and the Slovak Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei in the Field of Science and Technology on April 1 and April 23, 2015, respectively. The instrument entered into force on the latter date.
The ROC National Science Council, predecessor of the Ministry of Science and Technology, signed a science cooperation agreement with the Slovak Academy of Sciences in 1996. This pact, to which an addendum was added in 2009, marked the onset of annual subsidized joint research programs, of which there have been 15 to date. The new agreement will strengthen bilateral cooperation and exchanges by expanding the scope of collaboration to include that between universities and scientific research institutes of the two parties. It will also help establish a more comprehensive platform for scientific cooperation, promote interaction between research personnel of the two sides, and facilitate joint participation in EU-sponsored research projects.
This science and technology cooperation agreement, together with a youth working holiday pact signed in April 2014, demonstrates the determination shared by Taiwan and Slovakia to enhance their substantive and mutually beneficial ties. (E)