ROME, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Research ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) members on Friday jointly adopted in Trieste, Italy a declaration aimed at outlining ways to leverage education and research to help make the world's post-pandemic economic recovery more sustainable.
Ministers from the G20, in collaboration with the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), agreed to language in three main areas that will be known as the "Declaration on Leveraging Research, Higher Education and Digitalization for a Strong, Sustainable, Resilient and Inclusive Recovery."
The talks, chaired by Maria Cristina Messa, Italy's Minister of University and Research, was the first-ever formal gathering of G20 ministers of research. Italy holds the rotating G20 Presidency this year.
The areas of action listed in the declaration are: "Addressing the changing nature of skills," "Ethical principles and values in research and higher education," and "Towards a common understanding of digital spaces." In each of the three areas, there was a discussion of best practices.
Among concrete instances of experiences developed in single or multiple countries in facing the issues discussed in the declaration are: creating international centres of excellence for advanced data-intensive research and data science skills suitable to discipline-specific needs; and promoting wider use of research results by establishing technical standards and practices that make research data and other research-relevant digital objects that are based on public funding findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable.
The declaration also included a section called "Way Forward," in which ministers agreed to continue working "towards digitalization for strong, sustainable, resilient and inclusive recovery and growth and we recognize the role and contribution of [international organizations] and other stakeholders to our work in the field of higher education and research."
The priorities outlined in the joint declaration will be continued next year under the G20 Presidency of Indonesia. Enditem
