The 4th China-Israel Joint Committee Meeting on Cooperation in Industrial R&D was held in Tel Aviv, Israel on November 20th, 2016. The meeting was co-chaired by Li Meng, Vice Minister of Science and Technology of China; and Avi Hasson, Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Economy. The two sides introduced their countries’ S&T development, exchanged views on a wide range of topics including intergovernmental research programs, China-Israel innovation cooperation center, China-Israel innovation park in Changzhou as well as B2B partnerships, and discussed directions of future cooperation. 

Vice Minister Li noted that innovation cooperation between China and Israel is very complementary and boasts enormous potential. The two sides have completed the call for proposals on China-Israel Cooperation Program for Industrial R&D in 2016, and efforts should be made to launch the next call as early as possible so as to further facilitate innovation cooperation. Li stressed that now is the best time for China and Israel to deepen innovation cooperation. He hoped the two sides can explore new models and areas of cooperation and advance pragmatic collaboration.

Chief Scientist Avi Hasson said he totally agreed with the suggestions raised by Vice Minister Li on deepening cooperation, and spoke highly of achievements in innovation cooperation between the two countries. He said the Ministry of Economy and the Israeli Innovation Authority will integrate their resources and deepen innovation cooperation with China’s Ministry of Science and Technology to yield more pragmatic outcomes from industrial technology cooperation.