Negotiations of an S&T Cooperation Agreement with Brazil

Closing date: June 20, 2007

As the Government of Canada prepares to enter into the actual process of negotiations, your views and comments are sought on issues that may be of interest to you in relation to a Science and Technology (S&T) Cooperation Agreement that is going to be negotiated with Brazil.

Background

In 2005, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) was provided with a mandate to negotiate a Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement with the government of Brazil. This agreement will be the final component of the International Science and Technology Partnerships Program (ISTPP) to be delivered, following the successful signings of agreements between Canada and Israel, India and China.
In March 2007, Canada held a Science, Technology and Innovation Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil, during which DFAIT and the relevant S&T ministries in Brazil signed a Declaration of Intent to enter into the process of negotiations to sign the Agreement.

As part of the consultation process pertaining to the upcoming negotiations, Canadians are invited to provide comments on issues that may be of interest in relation to the Agreement, by answering the following few questions put to your consideration:

1. As Canada is going forward with negotiations on a S&T treaty with Brazil, the starting point for the treaty text is the text of the S&T Agreements Canada has signed with India and China since it is likely to be very similar. What improvements would you like to see in the draft text Canada proposes to the Brazilians?

2. S&T Agreements usually provide a framework for cooperation, and this framework includes provisions for Memoranda of Undertanding (MOUs) which are used to set out the details of cooperation projects. S&T Agreements can either allow any eligible person or organization to enter into an MOU under the Agreement, or it can restrict participants to those which the Parties (Canada & Brazil) decide upon. Which of these two models would you prefer?

3. Article 11 and Annex 1 of the Canada-China S&T Agreement (pages 7 & 10 under that link) provide a framework for the protection of intellectual property (IP) under the Agreement. Would your organization be at all concerned if similar language were to be used to cover the IP aspects of a Canada-Brazil S&T Agreement?

4. Do you have anything else your organization would like to bring to our attention?

All interested parties are invited to provide written comments no later than June 20, 2007.

Please send your contributions by email, mail or fax to:

Science and Technology Division (IIS)
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
E-mail: consultations@international.gc.ca
Fax: (613) 944-2452