Astronaut Helps Local Leaders
with Trade and Science
By Leland Baxter-Neal and Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
rkimitch@ticotimes.net

Taking a break from his usual efforts in the United States to create a plasma rocket, astronaut Franklin Chang is in his homeland of Costa Rica this week to help leaders find answers regarding the country's future in international trade, as well as science and technology.

On Sunday, Chang participated in the first official meeting of the Council of Notables, a group of five men selected by President Abel Pacheco to examine the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

The notables – chosen for their supposed impartiality and distance from politics – have sixty days from Sunday to submit a written report to the President on whether the free-trade agreement contributes to Costa Rica's development objectives.

While the opinion will be non-binding, President Pacheco said Sunday that he will include the council's recommendations and observations when he sends CAFTA to the Legislative Assembly for ratification. The President will also make the opinion public once he has read it, he said.

Chang was announced as the group's spokesman at a press conference at Casa Presidencial preceding the council meeting. The famed Costa Rican-U.S. citizen said the agreement is “complex,” and acknowledged the limitations of the group's knowledge and experience. He added that the council will seek out people from both side of the debate to help members “simplify the analysis.”

In addition to Chang, the council includes: Gabriel Macaya, former rector of the University of Costa Rica ; Rodrigo Gámez, president of the private National Biology Institute (INBio); Alvar Antillón, expert in international treaties; and Guido Vallalta, a Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of San José.

After their CAFTA discussion Sunday, Chang and Macaya spent yesterday discussing a topic with which they are more familiar: science. Together with Alejandro Cruz, former rector of the Technology Institute of Costa Rica, they led a conference of hundreds of local scientists attempting to develop a plan to guide and advance the country's future in science and technology over the next 50 years.

The strategy is known as the Half-Century Plan for Science and Technology.

The plan is not about improving research in labs, but rather using science and technology to create sustainable development in Costa Rica and improving the lives of the country's population, Macaya explained.

It is essential for undeveloped countries that are on the cusp of development to invest in science and establish a long-term strategy based on concrete goals, Chang said.

The conference, which ends today, marks the end of the project's first phase, in which the state of science and technology in Costa Rica was evaluated and summarized by 250 scientists in 20 workgroups.

Preliminary results show that Costa Rica is lacking: human resources – not enough young people are studying sciences to allow growth in the field; an institutional framework that supports science and technology, including financial support; interactions among scientists within Costa Rica and among the academic, business and government sectors; implementation of scientific knowledge here for Costa Rican needs; and a scientific culture among the population.

In the second phase of the project, scientists will analyze the work group reports to determine a strategic vision. The final phase of developing a half-century plan will involve defining concrete action plans for the short, middle and long term, according to Cruz.