The CONICET strengthens scientific cooperation’s bonds with France
During the visit of President François Hollande, the head of the CONICET signed three scientific and technology agreements with different French public institutions.
French President François Hollande discoursed at the “French-Argentine Scientific and Educational Cooperation Forum”, held at the “Scientific and Technological Pole” and moderated by the dean of the University of Buenos Aires Law School, Dr. Mónica Pinto.
At the meeting, presided by the minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innnovation, Dr. Lino Barañao, Hollande highlighted the historical relationship between both countries regarding scientific, educational and cultural terms: “Currently, France is the first partner of Argentina in science and technology. There are one hundred ongoing projects and 400 French researchers’ missions in Argentina each year.” He also added “both countries share the conviction that science is the driving force for progress and must serve social progress.”
After the speech of the French President, the head of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Dr. Ceccatto, signed three scientific-technological cooperation agreements with different French public institutions.
First, Dr. Ceccatto and the director of the Ecology Institute of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Dr. Stéphanie Thiebault, signed an agreement in which the main objective is to promote exchange of information and scientific data through the meeting between researchers of both countries. The signing renews the agreement signed in 2007 and specifically mentions the joint support for the organization of seminars and meetings between Argentine and French researchers as well as the bilateral cooperation that led to the Proyectos internacionales de cooperación científica (PICS in Spanish) Laboratorios internacionales asociados (LIA) y Unidades mixtas internacionales (UMI).
Secondly, the CONICET signed a new framework agreement with the Institut de recherche pour le développment (IRD), represented by its general director Pr. Jean-Paul Moatti. The main goal is to facilitate mutual benefits in terms of academic exchange and scientific and technological cooperation between both institutions.
Furthermore, the Muséum National d´Histoire Naturelle de París (MNHN) and the CONICET, through the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences “Bernardino Rivadavia” (MACN in Spanish), signed another framework cooperation agreement to boost activities in museum studies. The agreement promotes research, preservation and restoration of museum collections and scientific promotion.
Likewise, a day before the Forum, the president of the Council met members of the French committee and representatives of the Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, where they all agreed to take up again the cooperation that had been formalized between both institutions in 2014.