On October 10, 2016, Vice Minister of Science and Technology Yin Hejun met with State Secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science Liga Lejina in Beijing. The two sides exchanged views and reached an agreement on the establishment of China-Latvia inter-governmental cooperation mechanism on science and technology and other issues.

Vice Minister Yin first introduced China’s policies for promoting scientific and technological innovation and the latest development of science and technology in China. He pointed out that although the mechanism of inter-governmental committee for science and technology cooperation is yet to be established, the two countries have strong complementarity in science and technology and bright prospect of cooperation. Latvia is competitive in scientific research and has conducted research with distinctive features in many fields. China is ready to work with Latvia for the resigning of the inter-governmental cooperation agreement on science and technology at an early date, set up the inter-governmental cooperation committee and hold regular meetings, expand people-to-people exchanges on scientific and technological innovation, and push for cooperation on joint R&D projects in areas of mutual interest such as pharmacy, biology, advanced materials, energy, information and communication technologies.

State Secretary Lejina briefed the Chinese side on Latvia’s policies for scientific and technological innovation and its involvement in international science and technology cooperation. She stated that Latvia values its cooperation with China on scientific and technological innovation, and stands ready to enhance dialogue and exchanges with China in the building of a knowledge economy and take China-Latvia cooperation on scientific and technological innovation to a new height.

Maris Selga, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to China, attended the meeting.