SA and Slovakia will co-operate in the fields of science and technology, following a bilateral agreement signed today in Pretoria by Mosibudi Mangena, SA minister of science and technology, and Slovakian minister of education Laszlo Szigeti.
Szigeti said SA had more resources for research and development of technology than Slovakia, a small country, still new on the map of the world.
Slovakia would be able to provide skilled professionals who could help in the development of mathematics, science and IT, as well as the protection of health in medical science, he said.
"The agreement will offer the exchange of materials, technology and human resources in the sphere of science and technology," Szigeti said.
The agreement is significant for SA as Slovakia is one of the new members of the new term of the European Union, Mangena said.
In addition, SA can benefit from Slovakia`s recent implementation of the Minerva Programme, a European education programme that promotes European co-operation in the field of IT, Mangena said.
The four aims of the Minerva Programme, as outlined by Szigeti, are: investment in people and education, innovation in science and technology, the creation of an information-based society, and the developing business to function in the "knowledge environment".
Another bi-lateral agreement of science and technology co-operation will be signed tomorrow, between Argentina and SA, the Department of Science and Technology announced.
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