Through this contract, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will continue its scientific exchange programs with the academies of sciences of the U.S.S.R., Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia in Calendar Year 1991. These programs support individual visits by postdoctoral scientists and engineers of the participating countries to scientific research facilities of the other countries for familiarization, lecturing, and research. The programs also include special thrusts to encourage the participation of young participants and to promote short-term project development visits in support of the NSF's cooperative research programs with the countries of the region. This activity promotes two important program objectives: advancing scientific knowledge by fostering professional contacts between American and foreign scientists, and supporting U.S. foreign-policy objectives by maintaining a framework of nongovernmental cooperation with the U.S.S.R. and the countries of Eastern Europe. The interacademy exchange programs have had an excellent record over the years of obtaining access for U.S. scientist and engineers to scientific personnel and facilities of these countries in a framework of reciprocity and mutuality of benefit.
