The Philippines and the United Kingdom have tackled ways on how to strengthen science and technology (S&T) partnership between the two countries in areas of health, artificial intelligence, space technologies, and engineering biology.
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato “Boy” T. de la Peña disclosed this in a Facebook post following his recent meeting with British Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils.
Beaufils paid a courtesy visit to the DOST.
During the meeting, de la Peña expressed the Philippine government’s appreciation the UK’s strong support to bilateral initiatives and to the country’s S&T programs which include Newton-Agham Programme, NovaSAR with Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), JST-UKRI-DOST ‘Science, Technology and Action’ Nexus for Development (STAND), and COP26, among others.
“We also discussed the strengthening of S&T collaborations particularly on health, climate change, artificial intelligence, engineering biology, 5G, digital trade, start-ups/spin-offs, space technologies, and higher education,” he said.
He said both parties also "explored" the possibility of convening the first PH-UK Joint Committee Meeting on Science and Technology (JCMST).
De la Peña likewise cited the UK government’s important role in the Philippines’ fight against coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“The UK government has been a crucial partner of the Philippine government for the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines across the country,” he said.