Thursday, June 26, 2008

A broad memorandum of understanding, intended to strengthen future cooperation between California and Chile, was also signed. That agreement will create new, collaborative educational opportunities and develop a partnership focused on ecosystem conservation and water management.

"It is particularly appropriate that President Bachelet joins us for the official signing of several agreements and understandings that build on a 40-year foundation of academic, business, and governmental collaborations between the people of California and the people of Chile," says UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef.

Bachelet also signed a partnership agreement between the California State University system and the Technical University of Chile involving curriculum development, college preparation and remediation strategies.

She also visited UC Berkeley to lecture and sign a collaborative agreement focused on alternative energy, higher education and innovation.

The two partners share the same Mediterranean climate that is conducive to producing similar food crops. And, because Chile and California are in different hemispheres, they have alternate growing seasons, which allows for a vibrant international trade in fresh fruits and vegetables.

More than 50 Chileans who studied agricultural sciences at UC Davis during the 1960s and 1970s are widely credited with helping to transform Chile into one of the world`s leading fresh-fruit exporters, a movement that has contributed to the nation`s rising standard of living.

In Chile, those students became known as the "Davis boys," a nickname derived from the "Chicago boys," who were young Chileans who studied economics at the University of Chicago and launched economic policies that made Chile a model for free-trade advocates.

In the first agreement, UC Davis` Seed Biotechnology Center in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Science will be the primary campus partner in the new agreement. The Chilean participants will include the National Association of Seed Producers, the Institute of Research on Agricultural and Livestock, University of Chile, Pontificia Catholic University of Chile, Pontificia Catholic University of Valparaiso, University of Talca and University Austral of Chile.

The second agreement will emphasize sustainable production, wine flavor improvement, and training of the next generation of winemakers and grape growers for both Chile and California.

Coordinating this partnership will be the Department of Viticulture and Enology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Chilean participants will include Vinnova, a consortium enterprise formed through the partnership of Vinas de Chile, the Catholic University of Chile, and the University of Concepcion, with the support of Innova Chile, a program coordinated by Chile`s Ministry of Economy. It was signed by Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Rafael Giulisasti, president of the board of Vinnova.


© 2008 DTN.