In the afternoon of November 12th, 2007, Vice Minister SHANG Yong met with Spanish Secretary of State for Trade and Tourism Pedro Mejia. They exchanged ideas on the joint effort to establish the “China-Spain R&D Center for Renewable Energy”.

Mejia reviewed the launching of the program and hoped that MOST would sign the cooperation agreement soon and take the leading role in establishing the center with relevant agencies in Spain.

SHANG briefly introduced China’s R&D, application and development plan in renewable energy, and then expressed MOST’s willingness to support the establishment of the center. He hoped that this center would become a platform to integrate industry, education and academia in this field so as to achieve the industrialization of research results on the basis of enhanced protection of intellectual property. He pointed out that efforts should be made to involve in the program the top research centers and enterprises in China in such fields as wind energy and solar power, especially photovoltaic power generation, and formulate the cooperation plan as soon as possible after determining the contact agencies of both sides. MOST would provide support the program financially.