The Manila Economic and Cultural Office–Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (MECO-TECO) jointly approved two project proposals from the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD).
The proposals were titled, “Detecting Population Structure and Temperature Response of Tridacna sp. Using NGS Technology,” under the leadership of Dr. Ma. Carmen A. Lagman of the De La Salle University and “DNA Barcoding and Genetic Diversity of Marine Fishes in Coastal Philippines,” under the leadership of Dr. Cleto L. Nañola, Jr. of the University of the Philippines Mindanao.
Both of the proposed projects build a synergistic collaboration between Taiwan and the Philippines in the context of generating information on genetic diversity and population connectivity of Tridacna sp.’s natural populations from the West Philippine Sea and Kuroshio region and the genetic diversity of marine fishes along the north bifurcation of the north equatorial current.
The approval was carried out during the Pre-Joint Science and Technology Commission (JSTC) meeting last year at Crimson Hotel, Alabang. MECO was represented by DOST, while TECO was represented by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). The two project proposals passed the initial matching and technical review under MECO-TECO Joint Call for Proposals.
Fourteen out of the 18 proposals received by DOST from January to April 2017 passed the initial matching between DOST and MOST. After the technical review by concerned agencies, a total of five proposals, two of which from PCAARRD, were jointly approved by DOST and MOST for implementation starting October 2017 for three years.
The signed Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between MECO and TECO developed the Joint Call for Proposals to strengthen collaboration between the Philippines and Taiwan in pursuit of Science and Technology. For 2017, the identified priority areas for implementation under MECO-TECO Joint Call for Proposals include marine resources, omics for personalized medicine and water resource management.