Brussels, 12/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the Council of Ministers with responsibility for Competitiveness in Brussels on 22 May, the Spanish Presidency of the EU will present a document in which, it says, it hopes to unite society in the fight against poverty and turn climate change into an opportunity to escape the crisis. That is one of the conclusions of the “Science Against Poverty” conference in La Granja (Segovia) which came to a conclusion on Friday 9 April. Spanish Secretary of State for Research Felipe Petriz Calvo invited member countries of the EU to take action in order to use science as a weapon against poverty, indicating that, in his opinion, this aim is compatible with competitiveness “because we have to produce more, but we also need to be better”. Petriz insisted that the diagnosis is known, and what governments need to do is “move into action”. Three hundred experts, political representatives and social organisations from 46 countries took part in the conference, which considered it essential to foster awareness of the social responsibility of science and scientists. “Science and technology have not always had a clear role in the promotion of development, and they still do not occupy the place they should. Neither has the struggle against poverty been an explicit objective of R&D policies,” Petriz said. (B.C./transl.rt)