North-South and South-South co-operation

The Agency's Research Contract Programme expanded rapidly. Of the more than one thousand on-going projects within the research programme which are being carried out in 82 Member States, some four-fifths relate to coordinated research efforts. Approximately 80% of the 107 coordinated research programmes now monitored by the Agency's scientific staff relate to the use of isotopes and radiation techniques in the fields of Food and Agriculture, Life Sciences and the Physical Sciences, which are particularly well suited to projects of importance to the developing countries. The average award for each contract each year is now somewhat more than US$ 5000, and an average of some US$ 2 million a year has been made available from the Agency's regular budget in recent years to support research in all fields. Over the life of the programme more than three-quarters of research contract funds have been awarded to institutes in developing countries. Cooperation between institutes in advanced countries and developing countries, and between institutes in the developing countries, is strongly encouraged