Governors seek bigger budget for science and technology

Mexico, Apr. 6 (Notimex).- The National Commission of Governors (Conago, for its acronym in Spanish) will seek at the next session of the Congress of the Union one percent of the Gross Domestic Product for the development of science and technology, said the governor of Morelos, Graco Ramírez. During the installation of the Executive Committee on Science and Technology of the Conago, he said that the impetus to science and technology "must go hand in hand with the educational model required by the country for the twenty-first century." "Even with the financial difficulties presented by the country we must work, not to fall into discouragement and indifference, as this is an important issue of the cultural vision of public policies and the model of the country we want to have," he said. The governors of Aguascalientes and Zacatecas, Martín Orozco and Alejandro Tello, respectively, considered necessary an educational reform in the states, accompanied by a budget to strengthen the study of basic disciplines such as physics, chemistry and mathematics. Elías Micha Zaga, coordinator of Science, Technology, and Innovation of the Presidency of the Republic, said that investment in this area "is not a cost but a lever to generate an economy with better results and conditions for all." The governor of Colima and president of the Executive Commission installed, José Ignacio Peralta, assured that from this date until August, the details of the four guiding axes of work will be defined: investment, education, participation of society, as well as the private sector.