On July 5, 2016 Sun Hong, Director General of China Science and Technology Exchange Center (CSTEC), was invited by the Palace Museum and the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) to join Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and witness the opening of China-Greece Laser Technology Joint Laboratory on Cultural Heritage at the Palace Museum.

Thanks to concerted efforts made by CSTEC and FORTH, the Palace Museum and the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, which is affiliated to FORTH, have carried out collaboration since 2013 to develop technologies for the protection of cultural heritages, and they signed an MOU in early 2016 and proposed to establish China-Greece Laser Technology Joint Laboratory on Cultural Heritage.

On the sideline of the Greek Prime Minister’s visit to China, senior government officials from both countries witnessed the inauguration of the laboratory. The establishment of the joint laboratory suggested that the cooperative initiative has secured support and endorsement from both governments, building a longstanding platform for the two entities to carry out joint research in the future.

In their remarks at the inauguration ceremony, Costas Fotakis, Deputy Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs, and Dr. Shan Jixiang, Head of the Palace Museum, expressed their warm congratulations to the establishment of the joint laboratory, saying that China and Greece are home to the world’s two ancient civilizations and have boast wide-ranging cooperation in heritage protection and restoration, and that the joint laboratory marked a major milestone and a fresh beginning of bilateral cooperation.

Both sides gave high praises to CSTEC for its persistent support and high-quality international science and technology services to facilitate bilateral cooperation in the recent three years, and hoped CSTEC will continue to push for the establishment of cooperative platforms between Chinese and European museums and pave the way for China and Greece to set up more joint laboratories and research centres in areas of common interest.