2 DOST units, SEA research center ink pact

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – Two research councils of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and a Southeast Asian center based here agreed to pursue joint programs and activities of mutual interest.

Separate memoranda of understanding (MOU) along this line have been signed between the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO) and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) and the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD).

Signatories to the MOU were SEARCA director Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan, PCARRD executive director Dr. Patricio S. Faylon, and PCAMRD executive director Rafael D. Guerrero III.

SEARCA is one of the 15 "centers of excellence" of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), an intergovernment body founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science and culture. SEAMEO member-countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

PCARRD is DOST’s sectoral council established in 1972 to coordinate, evaluate, and monitor government agriculture and natural resources research in the country. PCAMRD is DOST sectoral council in aquatic and marine R&D. – RAF