The First Meeting of China-South Africa High-Level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism was held in Pretoria, South Africa on April 24th, 2017. The meeting was co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong and South African Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa. Wang Zhigang, Secretary of the CPC Leading Group and Vice Minister of MOST attended the Meeting. Cooperation in science, technology and innovation was highlighted in the framework of the mechanism. The co-chairs listened to reports on the progress and future plans of China-South Africa cooperation in science and technology.

After the Meeting, in the witness of Vice Premier Liu and Minister Mthethwa, Vice Minister Wang of MOST and Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa signed a MOU on China-South Africa joint research centers and another on China-South Africa young scientist exchange. Accordingly, both sides will work together to build joint research centers, so as to promote long-term stable partnership and carry out high-level joint research. They will promote personnel mobility by funding young researchers from the other country to carry out short-term research in the home country.