On September 27, 2017, Huang Wei, Vice Minister of Science and Technology met with Ms. Flavia Schlegel, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences of UNESCO. The two sides held a frank exchange of views and reached consensus on pushing forward cooperation between MOST and UNESCO in the field of science, technology and innovation (STI). 

Vice Minister Huang Wei looked back on the STI cooperation between China and UNESCO and spoke highly of the progress in cooperation. He called for efforts to deliver the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation (2017-2020) which the Chinese government and UNESCO signed during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and expressed the hope that the two sides can continue to strengthen their cooperation in international megascience programs, the building of Category two centers and the secondment of international staff. Vice Minister Huang Wei said that the Chinese side is willing to share China’s development experience with the international community and make its due contribution.

Assistant Director-General Flavia Schlegel thanked the MOST for its consistent support and briefed the host on UNESCO’s priority fields in STI, especially the concept paper of the Belt of Light and the Road of Excellence within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. She expressed the hope to boost African countries’ abilities in STI and engineering construction through the two projects. 

Officials including DDG of International Cooperation Zhu Xuehua and DDG of High-tech Development and Industrialization Xu Chaoqian, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development Wu Yishan were present at the meeting.