On January 13th of 2009, Vice-Minister CAO Jianlin of Science and Technology met with Ms. Anneli Pauli, Deputy Director General of EU-DG Research. Both sides exchanged opinions on the new mechanism of China-EU S&T cooperation, mega science program, and joint research institute, and achieved consensus on comprehensively enhancing the cooperation.

Since the signing of S&T Cooperation Agreement in 1998, the cooperation has played an important role in China-EU relationship, covering more fields and yielding remarkable achievements. Vice-Minister CAO and Deputy Director-General Anneli Pauli also agreed on the renewal of China-EU S&T Cooperation Agreement in 2009.