Right after you took office you stated that your greatest challenge is to fill the gap between research and productive activity in this country. Which are your specific blanks?
Venezuela is a country that has huge resources and potentials for development especially considering the natural resources. We have certain capabilities; our people have been preparing themselves abroad as well as in Venezuela. We have a good education for the people in certain disciplines here. We have had successful experiences considering the innovations in the oil industry. Concerning this matter Venezuela has to make a strong effort in order to try and develop all this potentials to strengthen our economic sector, especially if it has an impact in the social situation of the country.
This Ministry of Science and Technology was created one year ago. Our budget was allocated only at the beginning of January. Since then, we have been working quite vigorously. The Ministry's building is still under construction. We have large plans in the development of the country taken in consideration the technological innovations and possibilities we have. We want to encourage the fact that we can take advantage of the potentials in the country. We have been working in certain domains. The information and telecommunications technology is one in which we have been working particularly hard at. The need for technology and knowledge is necessary for the growth of our country. An example is the evolution some eastern Asian countries have had in the last years, an important development in the internal product of the country, as well as a good distribution of the income to the people. The income level of the population is more regular in those countries. It has a lot to do with the efforts they have made in education and technological development for the entire population.
In Venezuela, we know that there is still much to do in several areas, one of them being the software information. The country could develop itself through the infrastructure. In Venezuela there is a one million four hundred thousand housing insufficiency for the low-income people. We need to overcome this situation. Due to the population growth this figure keeps increasing at a rate of one hundred thousands houses per year, in order for the figure not to continue growing we have to produce at least that amount per year.
We consider that we have a lot of potential in the country due to our diversity. New kinds of plans are being implemented to encourage these technologies. Another strong point is our strength in petrochemicals, oil and energy in general. There is a lot of work taking place with gas. PDVSA, through an institute called INTEVEP, is the one that usually carries out the research and development in these areas, though there are certain projects we do control from here and we also have some joint-initiatives.
From the experience, knowledge and research capabilities you acquire from INTEVEP, do you use it to apply that in other areas?
There is a Petroleum agenda for research; this agenda was built from the national petroleum industry, researchers from Universities, research institutes, and the suppliers of the industry in Venezuela. We have been working hard in order to put them together to establish certain research programs that perhaps were asked from us by the petroleum industry. This petroleum industry has a lot of requirements. It also has the capabilities to develop the research sector obtaining information from the industry itself, local enterprises, internationals companies that are here and the ones that might be coming in. We need them to vision together the economical development of the country.
A problem here is that the industry generally has an amount of requirements, made up of services and elements of consumption. Those requirements are made up of high amounts of elements on a yearly basis. We are hoping the elements will trigger the local development of some processes that will allow research to be fundamental. We are looking for those products being required by the oil industry to be produced in Venezuela. It is an important amount of resources that go outside of Venezuela, around five thousand million dollars of the oil industry for the use of products and services from abroad. It is necessary that these resources produce some kind of transformation in our own industry so it will also generate development in the country. For this we require a technological presence with innovative characteristics and an appropriate knowledge on the technological area so we can really propel this process.
This mechanism was started a few years ago, we want for the resources that leave the country to be completely or partly produced in Venezuela. If we can put this together we can generate a process that can help develop the industrial sector in the country turning it into a productive sector. These sectors do not work sufficiently together, although they need each other. The industrial area works a bit isolated buying products from wherever it seems appropriate.
In a meeting we had this morning discussing these particular problems we came across the opportunities and difficulties that we might be presented with. Each particular sector might have different problems in order to integrate with this process. If these three sectors do not work together then there will be no progress for any of them.
Venezuela has tried diversifying its economy by all kinds of means, do you believe that the country should concentrate on its strongest income generator, which is the oil, or should it try even harder to diversify?
It is necessary that the Venezuelan industry diversifies. We require the presence of different elements. Venezuela has a huge amount of resources. The oil industry contributes in the rank of twenty five percent of the resources the country requires for its development, for the annual budget. This is an indicator that this should not be the only option, it is not enough. Venezuela has so much potential; it is the eighth country in the world with more energy resources. Venezuela has so many acres of land for sowing and growing. Venezuela has immense production capacity in so many areas. The tourism has not been exploited. We have a large amount of biodiversity that remains untouched. There is a convenient space for the development of technological information and communications; we count on the internal market for this. The growth of the information and technology industry propels for the internal market, which includes the manufacturing of certain products of this same area. Venezuela has a strategic position in South America, including its transportation access. It has a tremendous amount of opportunities that we should take advantage of, and given the situation Venezuela is right now living we have the conditions to trigger these kind of processes.
In Venezuela a new six year government is beginning, one that has deep democratic roots. It is made up of the community participation. When there is a new government it takes some time so they can take control of what they are trying to accomplish. We have already taken a year and a half in that process, where we created the Ministries, the taking of control, getting to know the problems that were happing internally and establishing the internal action map. We now have six years ahead of us that will allow us as a country to be a place with clearer rules and conditions. There is a very stable path established. There is a lot of work taking place in the social development of the country. We want to rescue the educational area in particular. We also want to open our doors to the exploitation of the Venezuelan natural resources. There are so many mineral resources, and a mine law was created. There are a lot of gas resources and new spaces are being opened to various investments in the exploitation area. There are extremely important opportunities in the telecommunications area, and a law for this area was created as well.
We are working now on a State reform. We are aiming many goals, but for now there are two, in which we are especially interested. To strengthen the democracy and allow the participation and control of the population in the actions that takes place at government level. We also have an immense battle against corruption. Venezuela has deep stigmas in that area. For us democracy is a fundamental element.
The agro productive and the metal mechanic sector are two outstanding areas. We are now working very hard on the possibility of establishing franc zones of production in the telecommunications and information sector in the country. Venezuela has a huge energy potential. In the hydro area the possibilities are even larger, and it takes advantage of generating electricity. These are elements that are fundamental. The climate of Venezuela also enjoys the diversification that is a great resource for tourism; almost half the country is unknown. Here the study of biodiversification can easily take place and the exploitation of all the natural chemicals that are there. Our tribes exploit natural chemicals and we still do not know how they do this, we can even learn a lot from them.
Not all the new technology has to be established in one certain area of the country; this should only be applied in the case of franc zones. Inside Venezuela the agricultural capacity is extent, we have acid floors in the plain zones; the flooded Savannas that could be exploited for agricultural use. In the Orinoco-Apure region, we have in the beginning of the Apure River near the Tachira state in the west of the country reservoirs of nitrate and necessary components to prepare the fertilizers that are needed at the end of the river. In Venezuela wherever one wants to look there are so many ideas; there are so many opportunities and so much to be done.
Now that you speak of such ambitious plans, are there deadlines, budgets, how do you intend to finance these projects? Are they practical, and what would be the role of the private sector in these projects?
In every one of the Ministries there are structured projects like in the case of infrastructure for its progressive development. When we speak of gas, the auctioning is starting in some zones. They are being done with the participation of the national as well as the international industry; foreign companies are doing the larger investment. This opens possibilities for the development of the country. We have begun by establishing the basic legal framework in order to give trust and reliance to all investment process that takes place in the country. There is an investment law that was created last year.
In this ministry we are centralized in impelling the technological development and the strengthening of the research sector and the industry related to the same in the areas of informational technology, infrastructure, biotechnology, petrochemical. We are trying to support the research that will be useful in the development of the country. We are focusing on six to seven areas to be able to benefit from the comparative advantages. We also mention the areas of agriculture and metalmechanic and we are leaving out environment, education and health. Of course research must be done in those areas. We try to finance some research that has to do with these areas. It is important that the research does not just stay in the laboratories, but that it transfers into everyday life solutions. What we called technological transference is a very difficult process. It starts from an activity created by the scientist that is then passed on to productive sector on various occasions. The scientist normally finishes his research, publishes it in an important magazine and considers that most of his work is done and heads back to continue studying. Our job is getting the scientist to sit down at a table and speak to the productive sector and see what can be done about it. We are insisting on the strengthening of the demand in the science and technology area, because it is a priority when we sit down with the scientist. To do research we must be sure that it is in accord with the productive sector and the official sector too. This way we can discuss what kind of research is really needed, keeping a thirty- percent of research on basic science because from this the other science is enriched.
| This change that is taking place in Venezuela is very difficult because it has a lot of internal resistance in the same research sectors. Seventy percent of the researches are destined to a specific need. This procedure will be increased when we start handling more resources in the sector. Aside from the budget we handle; we have different resources that we have to obtain from different ways in the different states of the country due to the process of decentralization. The state and the municipality have access to the resources through three different paths. The budget and moreover they have two funds. One is the "Ley de Asignaciones Economicas Especiales" (LAEE) and the other is "Fondo Intergubernamental de la Decentralizacion". Those two funds allow the Governors and mayors to have projects financed. We have been able to make a five- percent of those projects go to technology and science. In Venezuela there are three hundred and thirty five municipalities who must be aware of the need of technological projects. The idea is for them to increase the interest in that area even more.
We are working on some meetings with the mayors that should take place at the end of the month of October. We want to discuss what should be done with the resources. This year I want to emphasis on this, so we can all invest at least that five- percent in technology and science. Venezuela has a huge need in this area and we have the potential and at the same time we have to develop our internal markets as fast as we can.
Venezuela has been pioneer in designing software in the field of security for the transactions that take place in the e-business and electronic bank. You are discussing a law that may be approved to regulate this sector. What made Venezuela take such a lead, what are the companies working on this and what business future does this have to offer?
For the development of a digital society, the government must work in four areas fundamentally. The area of connection, capacity, content and development of digital government. The telecommunications area is the one that has to do with connection, Venezuela has a low connection at a very high cost. We have approximately half a million of Internet connections in the country. We have about a million personal computers in Venezuela. The measures, laws, requirements are imposed on the private sector and government. This means we are going to have to have an immense amount of computers in the country at a very fast rate. What we are hoping to do is produce, or at least manufacture these computers inside the country. With the new telecommunications laws there is an impulse in apertures for this market and investment to lower the cost raising the competitiveness.
We need to develop a very strong Internet market in the country. The capacity is growing. We are trying to educate people with this technology. We are investing more resources in this. In the schools we are opening at nighttime for the community. The changes have been slow but by next year they should move with more force.
The third point is content. We know that we have a content deficiency because this requires a lot. We need to develop content in the web, and every one is doing this according to their need. In this ministry we are taking this very serious and developing technology and information agendas. Where we sit different personalities vinculated with the educational area so we can produce content in the educational area. This is oriented to basic education but generally to all the educational areas.
Finally when we speak of electronic government it means transforming the management and the way the services are given internally. We do this through a regulation where every ministry has to reflect how they will transform themselves to trigger this. Then there is regulation when signing electronics documents. We are working with the private sector in discussing the law. It is a very important law. There is also the auction law that was approved and leaves open the possibility of having bidding done online. We are all working in the same direction. This will change the vision of the country in some years.
The private sector participates completely in this. They have to provide content on the web. Then it has to transform itself to provide service and benefit from it. All this work done here even helps fight corruption and there is ejection control. This opens spaces to new kinds of negotiations. We want to implant this as an Andean strategy. We are working with "El Banco Interamericano de desarrollo" and with "La Conformacion Andina de Fomento" so they can propose some loans of rapid access, even if they are of small amounts that several countries support them. In November there will be a meeting with all the countries of Latin America in Margarita because we are going to discuss a pact about the educational content in the web to formulate plans together. The market of one country alone is not sufficient. We are aiming for a market of five hundred and sixty million made up of Spanish and Portuguese speakers, which is a big area that requires a lot of content.
There are countries that have developed very advanced software, as a matter of fact, those are countries where the use of English language is very common. Do you think that because of the language, there is a gap in the case of Venezuela?
The technological gap is a very big problem in the world. Only very small amounts of people in the world have access to Internet. The third world countries or the ones that are still developing have great disadvantages. There are zones like Africa where fifty percent of the population has never even seen a telephone. The problem becomes that the more technology advances the larger the gap becomes. Because of this some people stay even further behind and the social and economical development seems harder. The content is hard and very difficult. Reformations are given the same kind of use that the society gives to the technological advances. This means that if we do not hurry up and offer the people the capacity to that kind of development of work, we will have more unemployment. We must struggle harder to incorporate ourselves with this. In general terms this is not easy. In English speaking countries they have already sometime working in these areas, they had great developments and advantages over us. With the right effort we could catch up to them at our own pace, language, and level.
You are overseeing the rebuilding over the flood-hit Vargas state through the Corpovargas program. What are the plans and opportunities in the area?
It will require about three years to reconstruct the infrastructure to recover the lost caused by the catastrophe. It will take an investment of about one thousand million dollars that must be made by the State, with it enable another investment from the private sector of around three thousand million dollars. We have the master's plans on the urbanization, in the system of public roads, environmental care, and the reconstruction of historical patrimony. Those programs are ready and advanced. Some of the processes of reconstruction are already taking place. These are reconstructions of the basic infrastructure, which the country already knows how to make. In some of these processes the international investment could also take part. The investment coming in from the private sector must work in harmony with the master plans that have been made, and at the same time it should keep in mind that when the government gives land it is being transferred directly to the families that were affected by the natural disaster. A company named Corpovargas was created with the purpose of making these kinds of negotiations.
Comparing social politics, how far are the ideas of the so-called third way concept reflected in your government?
President Chavez speaks a lot of the third way and establishes himself as someone that respects this a lot. The third way represents many things it is not an exclusive way of seeing things. It appears in Germany after the First World War, in the Soviet Union, in the United States they proposed this as an intermediate option, which is the first version of this third way. After that we have had several other versions. Switzerland is more socialist; it is closer with the peoples' need and guarantees the people a homogenic distribution of the wealth among the people under the best conditions. All the countries have searched to establish a mechanism that is fair socially and economically. All governments search for the well being of their people, so we are looking for social benefit. But sometimes the paths are different, though all social benefit comes from economical measurements. All countries find themselves in different situations. Venezuela's social passive is extremely painful even though it was a country with much wealth; it has a poverty percentage of 80%. When one sees this happening it is essential to enhance the importance of the social politic in the country and this cannot take place with out the economical politic.
There was a need for a political transformation. We needed to generate a country that inspired trust and credibility. Corruption was fought and there was a change of the political structures that had existed in the country for the last forty years and were very responsible for the poverty. The country cannot do this by itself, we need investors that are willing to work and respect the government.
In Venezuela education is free and obligatory in the public sector. There is of course liberty for private schools. When the President stressed the importance of school last year, six hundred thousand new students enrolled in school. What happened before was that those public schools that were not allowed to charge anything were doing it anyway. People could not afford that. This year four hundred thousand additional students have enrolled. That is a million children, which is proof that there is a need for the social reforms.
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Ministry of Science and Techonoly