“For Bolivia, the scientific and technological issue is not a matter of private investment, it is a matter of State and sovereignty,” said the Executive Director of the Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN), Hortensia Jiménez, who spoke at the ” X International Forum Atomexpo 2018 “that took place in the city of Sochi, Russia, where more than 80 countries participated in the exchange on the use of nuclear energy in the world.
Since the implementation of the megaproject of the Center for Research and Development in Nuclear Technology by the Bolivian government in 2016, for the first time, Bolivia is part of the international event organized by the Corporation of the Russian Federation ” Rosatom that calls for countries that make the use peaceful nuclear energy with benefits in agro-industry, medicine, industrial development and mitigation of climate change, among others.
Jiménez addressed the international representatives and explained that Bolivia has the vision that, “only from the State can the nation be conceived in its totality and a totality includes the integration of territoriality, economic sovereignty and also scientific sovereignty” .
Jiménez affirmed that, within the framework of the process of change that President Evo Morales leads, the population was made aware that without scientific and technological development there cannot be sovereignty.
She indicated that the approach adopted by the Bolivian government for nuclear development is based on the search for sovereign development, that is, it is not about buying technology or knowledge, but about advancing from its own capabilities “repatriating our scientists, empowering our educational programs, adapting western knowledge to our society and looking for strategic partners that in their historical evolution have gone through processes similar to ours “.
Source: ABEN
