Peter Raven, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) sent a message Saturday to the ongoing annual meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), urging China and the United States to enhance scientific and technological cooperation to ensure the global sustainable development.

Raven had planned to deliver a report at the meeting, but he was unable to come due to the recent terrorist attacks in the United States. In his message, he said the two sides should make joint efforts to improve their cooperation in the education and social sciences systems, to exchange more often visits by scholars and engineers so as to increase direct contact between scientists.

International cooperation in the spheres of science, technology, engineering and medicine will be highly conducive to sustainable development of the world, Raven said.

He expressed his appreciation for the CAST's achievements in popularizing sciences and improving the public awareness of environmental protection.

Raven suggested China form a special bio-diversity commission to supervise, protect and better use its bio-diversity.

About 60 percent of the economic growth in the United States, and at least one third of the growth in the whole world, can be attributed to scientific and technological progress, experts here said.

As many as 95 countries and regions have so far signed scientific and technological cooperative agreements with China, according to the CAST meeting.

(People's Daily 09/17/2001)