On September 11, 2016, Yin Hejun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology met in Nanning with Madius Tangau, Malaysian Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Houmphanh Intharath, Laotian Vice Minister for Science and Technology, and Soe Win, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education of Myanmar, who came to China to attend the Fourth Forum on China-ASEAN Technology Transfer and Collaborative Innovation.

All three senior officials gave their appreciation of the exciting progress made in regional and bilateral cooperation since the China-ASEAN Science and Technology Partnership Program was launched. They said that the cooperation in recent years between China and their countries in research platform building, technology transfer & transformation, and science and technology talent exchanges have greatly improved science and technology capacities and science and technology talent training and played an active role in promoting economic development and improving livelihood in their respective countries. All the three officials said that they are willing to work with their Chinese counterparts to explore fields and directions of cooperation in science and technology innovation for the building of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Officials from the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology and heads of the science and technology departments from Guangxi, Gansu, Jiangxi and Yunnan were also present.