This may suggest that the collaboration between researchers in the two countries is falling. If so, we are very keen to turn that around. The Howard Government is committed to collaborative research. And we backed this commitment with funding in last year s budget. My department Industry, Science and Tourism funds a program for internationalising science, engineering and technology.
Bilateral relationships are the basic building blocks of foreign and trade policy strategies.
Our economic relationship is strong. Britain is the second largest investor in Australia, while Australia is the third largest investor in Britain. In light of this it is both fortunate and timely that, independently, we have both recently conducted studies looking at future needs and the impact of science and technology. In Australia this was conducted by the Australian Science, Technology and Engineering Council. The Council, in its Foresight study, examined possible national and global changes to 2010.