S&T Diplomacy and Sustainable Development in the Developing Countries

Science as an instrument has often been used to attend the problems of mutual interest and build constructive bilateral, regional and multilateral partnerships between the nations in the areas of strategic relevance, technology transfer, intellectual property rights, trade and commerce etc. In today’s world, the innovating procedures, development and transfer of emerging and advanced technologies necessitate inter-government cooperation and in international dealings among nations, science as a diplomatic tool helps in removing political barriers offering tangible benefits to the concerned parties. Science diplomacy aids in fostering international collaborations among scientists in nations, including the ones where official diplomatic relations might be limited or strained, by providing a platform for scientists to cooperate. The potential of science and technology is slowly gaining recognition and many developing countries have initiated actions in leveraging international cooperation for national needs and priorities through science diplomacy and making new investments in human resources and infrastructure to enhance their S&T capabilities.
In order to discuss the above issues, the Centre for Science & Technology of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre) organised an international workshop on ‘Perspectives on Science and Technology Diplomacy for Sustainable Development in NAM and Other Developing Countries’ at Manesar (Haryana), India during 27-30 May 2014. The workshop facilitated the capacity building and exchange of information and expertise among the developing countries. This book comprises 14 papers from the researchers and professionals of 11 countries. The papers in this book have been categorised in four sections, namely, National Experiences, Regional Cooperation and South-South Relations, International Organisations and Networking and Theoretical Frameworks. The book is expected to be of great value to the researchers, policy makers and government officials of the developing countries who are engaged in international science and technology cooperation and deal with diplomatic negotiations on S&T affairs.