On 18 April 2008, the 2nd session of Ministry & Autonomous Region Working Conference was jointly held in Nanning by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Three topics were raised at the conference: (1) Joint promotion of the development of Beibu Bay of Guangxi with the support of science and technology; (2) Further facilitation of the construction of One Platform & Two Bases (One Platform: the Technological Cooperation Platform under China-ASEAN FTA; Two Bases: one base for uniquely advantageous metals & new materials technology development & industrialization, and the other base for bio-energy crop variety cultivation and industrialization in Beibu Bay); (3) Joint research on frost-resisting technology for subtropical animals & plants, and the establishment of science and technology coalition emergency response system and a long-acting mechanism.

Both sides expressed their willingness to seriously implement the "Top Leaders' Project" agreed during the conference, emphasizing  on the convergency of innovation elements towards enterprises and on the integration of relevant achievements and technologies and the innovation of project management mechanism, so as to obtain greater results.