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On the morning of May 1, 2012, the 14th Meeting of the Sino-U.S. Joint Commission on Science and Technology Cooperation opened in Beijing. President Hu Jintao sent a letter to congratulate the opening of the meeting of the Joint Commission, express cordial greetings to those who are committed to the Sino-U.S. science and technology cooperation, and extend sincere gratitude to all the friends who contribute to the development of Sino-U.S. relations.
Hu Jintao said in his congratulatory letter that in today's world, advances in science and technology are exerting more profound impacts on economic development, social progress and the welfare of the people than any other time in history. China and the United States both recognize that science and technology is the most active and the most revolutionary factor in economic and social development, both attach great importance to science and technology innovation, and are actively promoting science and technology cooperation. The science and technology cooperation has become an important driving force for the development of Sino-U.S. relations and has become an important part of the people-to-people exchanges. The two countries carry out science and technology cooperation in line with the spirit of equality, mutual benefit and win-win results, which not only help to speed up the development of science and technology in the two countries, but also help to promote the science and technology progress of the world, which will benefit the entire mankind.
Hu expressed the belief that the Sino-U.S. science and technology cooperation, with the ongoing efforts of the governments and the science and technology communities of the two countries, will bear more fruits, inject a strong impetus to building a China-U.S. cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit and make greater contributions to the all-round, coordinated and sustainable development of mankind.
State Councilor Liu Yandong attended the 14th Meeting on the afternoon of May 1. She read out the congratulatory letter of President Hu Jintao and met with the U.S. science and technology delegation headed by Dr. John Paul Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. After the meeting, Liu attended the signing ceremony of Sino-U.S. science and technology cooperation projects and made a few remarks. Liu said that in the congratulatory letter, President Hu spoke highly of the important role of science and technology cooperation in the development of Sino-U.S. relations. This fully shows the positive attitude of the Chinese government to promote Sino-U.S. science and technology cooperation and China's confidence in the prospects for such cooperation. The two sides should build consensus, strengthen cooperation, improve cooperation mechanism, and enrich cooperation contents. The two sides should enhance people-to-people exchanges between science and technology communities and earnestly implement the consensus on the strengthening of Sino-U.S. science and technology cooperation agreed by the two heads of state.
Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang and Dr. John Paul Holdren co-chaired the opening ceremony. The heads of relevant ministries and departments of the two countries and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke attended the opening ceremony.
The Sino-U.S. Joint Commission on Science and Technology Cooperation was established in accordance with the U.S.-China Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology. It is a Sino-U.S. intergovernmental body, which meet once every two years alternately in the two countries. The current Joint Commission reviewed the development of science and technology in the two countries and bilateral cooperation in this field since the last meeting of the Joint Commission and launched workshops on agriculture, energy, nuclear safety, health, basic science, environment, measurement technology, biodiversity, remote sensing technology for disaster management and other related topics. The current Joint Commission established relevant working groups on science and technology cooperation and signed the Protocol on Flagship Projects in Agricultural Research, the Memorandum of Understanding on International Science and Technology Partnership Program and other documents.
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