Office of Science & Technology - Five Days in Myanmar – Science Diplomacy at 46.8 Degrees C.
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Five Days in Myanmar – Science Diplomacy at 46.8 Degrees C. Print E-mail
bridges vol. 25, April 2010 / Norm Neureiter on S&T in Foreign Policy

By Norman P. Neureiter


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Norman P. Neureiter
The newest frontier in AAAS science diplomacy initiatives is Myanmar - or Burma, to use the old British colonial name, which is also favored by the US Government to reflect disagreement with many policies of the Myanmar Government and support for Burmese émigrés and refugees in the US. Nonetheless, despite these sources of friction as well as harsh US economic sanctions against Myanmar, diplomatic relations still do exist between the two countries. There is even a functioning US Embassy in Yangon, albeit with no ambassador.  
 
Planning and organizing our trip began some months ago through a young, Myanmar-born, US citizen with ties to relatives still in Myanmar. Our objective, as always in initial exploratory science diplomacy visits, was to meet with scientists and officials in substantive areas in which we felt the best chances existed for finding common interests and opportunities for real cooperation. The leader of our five-member delegation was the current AAAS chairman and Nobel Prize-winner (chemistry, 2003) Professor Peter Agre of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore. Agre is a strong believer in using the common language of science to bridge rivers of misunderstanding between individuals and countries. His Nobel Prize, plus a wonderfully sincere desire to find ways of working together, always engenders great respect and cordiality from our hosts.  Professor Agre has also led AAAS science diplomacy visits to Cuba and North Korea.  

This Myanmar odyssey was sponsored by the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy, which was represented on the trip by its director and AAAS chief international officer, Dr. Vaughan Turekian; his deputy, Dr. Tom Wang, AAAS director for international cooperation; and by me as senior advisor. Adding immensely to the delegation with his experience in developing countries in Africa and South America was Dr. Robert Swap, research associate professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia. All of us are deeply indebted to the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and its Executive Director Max Angerholzer, who could not be with us on this trip but provided the financial support that made it possible. Lounsbery has truly distinguished itself by its pioneering support over several years of a number of science diplomacy initiatives.
 
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