The signing ceremony for the extension of the China-U.S. Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology was held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House on January 19，2011. WAN Gang, Minister of Science and Technology of China, and John P. Holdren, S&T advisor to President Barack Obama and Director of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, signed the accord on behalf of the two governments.

The S&T Agreement, signed during Mr. DENG Xiaoping’s visit to the U.S. in January 1979 when President Jimmy Carter was in office, is the first inter-government agreement between the two countries. Both sides agree that the agreement shall be renewed every five years, and competent government departments of the two countries shall take terms in organizing meetings of the China-U.S. Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation.