Article 27
Science and technology
1. Member States shall:
(a) strengthen their national scientific and technological capabilities in order to bring about the socio economic transformation required to improve the quality of life of their population;
(b) ensure the proper application of science and technology to the development of agriculture, transport and communications, industry, health and hygiene, energy, education and manpower and the conservation of the environment;
(c) reduce their dependence on foreign technology and promote their individual and collective technological self-reliance;
(d) cooperate in the development, acquisition and dissemination of appropriate technologies; and
(e) strengthen existing scientific research institutions and take all necessary measures to prepare and implement joint scientific research and technological development programmes.
2. In their cooperation in this field, Member States shall:
(a) harmonize, at the Community level, their national policies on scientific and technological research with a view to facilitating their integration into the national economic and social development plans;
(b) coordinate their programmes in applied research, research for development, scientific and technological services;
(c) harmonize their national technological development plans by placing special emphasis on indigenous and adapted technologies as well as their regulations on industrial property and transfer of technology;
(d) coordinate their positions on all scientific and technical questions forming the subject of international negotiations;
(e) carry out a permanent exchange of information and documentation and establish Community data networks and data banks;
(f) develop joint programmes for training scientific and technological cadres, including the training and further training of skilled manpower;
(g) promote exchanges of researchers and specialists among Member States in order to make full use of the technical skills available within the Community; and
(h) harmonize the educational systems in order to adapt better educational, scientific and technical training to the specific development needs of the West African environment.
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