Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting the Annual Report on International Activities in Science and Technology

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. Chairman:)

In accordance with Title V of the Foreign Relations Act of Fiscal 1979, as amended (Public Law 95 - 426; 22 U.S.C. 2656c(b)), I am transmitting the annual report on international activities in science and technology for fiscal year 1990.

This year's report highlights the unique role of science and technology in foreign policy by focusing on six topical areas and examining how science and technology interface with foreign policy in those fields. It further explores this relationship by discussing our cooperation in these six areas with 20 countries plus two multilateral organizations, the European Community and NATO. This new format should be more effective in providing insight into the interaction between science and technology and foreign policy in the United States.

Fiscal year 1990 was a year of U.S. leadership in global environmental issues, highlighted by the White House Conference on the Science and Economics of Global Change. The year also saw continued U.S. support for international projects in space, human genetics, high energy physics, materials science, and earthquake engineering. In the human health area, prominent U.S. research collaboration with foreign countries continued in the areas of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), vaccines against childhood diseases, prevention and control of blindness, cardiovascular disease, mental illness, and health problems of aging. Today science and technology figure prominently in the reform programs of not only the countries of central and eastern Europe, but in major developing countries as well. The long-term outlook is for further increase in the role of science and technology in foreign policy.

Sincerely,

George Bush