The World : Europe Pushes High Tech

West European trade ministers, seeking to overcome U.S.-Japanese dominance in the high-technology field, agreed to combine resources to develop more than 60 high-tech products worth $2.1 billion. They also agreed to set up the headquarters of the European Research Coordination Agency in Brussels and named Xavier Fels, 40, of France, as head of its secretariat. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opened the agency’s third conference in London by telling the 40 ministers from 18 European nations that they must work together to develop new products or “face the stark prospect that the United States and Japan will monopolize world markets.”