March 25, 1983
The President today is announcing the release of a report, ``Technology, Growth, and Employment.'' This report is the result of a working group which was established last June at the Versailles Economic Summit in France by the President and the heads of state and government from the other summit countries and the European Community.
The President regards the report as an example of the serious and substantive work that can result from the summit process. He welcomes its emphasis on technology as a key to industrial competitiveness and economic growth, which will be the subject of important discussions at the Williamsburg summit on May 28 - 30.
The report considers the opportunities, problems, and challenges presented by technology and analyzes the relationship between technology, economic growth, and employment. It offers a number of recommedations on shared problems, such as achieving sustained, noninflationary growth, lowering trade barriers among summit nations in high technology products, and restricting transfer of militarily significant technology to Soviet bloc countries.
In addition, the report identifies 18 new projects for international cooperation. The U.S. has proposed five of them and will serve as the lead country for their implementation. These are high energy physics, remote sensing from space, solar system exploration, fast breeder reactors, and controlled thermonuclear fusion.
The work was carried out under the auspices of the Personal Representatives of the heads of state and government that meet at the annual economic summit. Dr. George A. Keyworth, Science Adviser to the President and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, served as the U.S. Representative for this activity and John M. Marcum, his Assistant Director for Energy and Natural Resources, served as the Alternate U.S. Representative.