Experts from Cuba and the U.S. are preparing five days of meetings in search of opportunities for cooperation in research in biological and environmental sciences, enabling technologies and scientific policy.

The forum, coordinated by the Academy of Sciences of Cuba (ACC) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), will be attended by some 40 heads of research centers and researchers from the two countries, said ACC sources.

The purpose is to achieve a sustainable cooperation between the two countries, whose governments have no diplomatic relations since the breakup of White House ties with Havana in 1961.

For the organizers it is a consultation between representatives of scientific communities and will include specialized sessions to discuss specific projects in order to integrate a report on the possibilities of working together.

The results could be realized in detailed work plans for future cooperation, said a statement from the ACC, in which the meeting that will begin tomorrow and conclude on Friday was announced.

The meeting of leading scientists of the highest level will allow the discussion of research trends to create new knowledge in the care of urgent priorities for the sustainability of human societies.

One group will exchange about brain disorders and development, clinical trials in psychiatry and cancer control and on managing chronic diseases like diabetes.

Emerging infectious diseases and neglected diseases, as well as public health and research linking infectious disease clinics, complete the discussions on life sciences.

AAAS former president, a Nobel laureate in chemistry and infectious tropical disease expert Peter Agree is one of 17 Americans present at the meeting, which will have as a counterpart 23 Cubans led by the ACC president, Ismael Clark.

Other discussions will focus on the sustainability of complex environmental systems, simulation of climate, and on science policy the role played by scientific advice and the relationship between science and diplomacy will be discussed.

Translated by: Daysi Olano

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