The 8th China-Australia Joint Science and Technology Commission (JSTC) Meeting was held in Shanghai on August 2nd. Minister Wan Gang and Australian Minister of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Kim Carr addressed the opening ceremony. In his speech, Minister Wan noted the significance of China-Australia JSTC held at the beginning of the 12th Five-Year Science & Technology Plan period, spoke highly of the achievements in sci-tech cooperation between the two countries, and expected that the future bilateral cooperation could facilitate the transformation of economic development pattern and improve people's livelihood.

Minister Wan and Minister Carr signed the MOU on the Management of China-Australia Science and Research Fund, aiming to support strategic S&T cooperation and build long-term partnerships among institutes. The fund will mainly support joint research projects and the setting up of joint research centers in the priority fields including agriculture, bioscience, new energy, environmental protection, etc.

In the meeting, both sides updated each other on their innovation policies and basic research progress, exchanged the experiences in promoting technology commercialization and reviewed the achievements made in the past decade under the Special Fund for Scientific and Technological Cooperation. They also proposed detailed suggestions to enhance cooperation with the new research fund, and reached consensus on future cooperation.