On March 26 2018, the 12th Session of China-Slovenia Intergovernmental Committee for Cooperation in Science and Technology was held in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Chen Linhao, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and Mr. Tit Neubauer, Head of International Cooperation and EU Office, Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Slovenia.

The Chinese side briefed the Slovenia side on the basic content and implementation progress of the strategic deployments made at the 19th CPC National Congress on accelerating the building of an innovative country, the Outline of the National Strategy of Innovation-Driven Development and the 13th Five-Year Plan for National STI Development, China’s involvement in international science and technology cooperation and, in particular, the four STI initiatives put forward by China at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the China-CEEC Conference on Innovation Cooperation within the framework of “16+1 Cooperation”. The Slovenian side gave an introduction about Slovenia’s science, technology and R&D policy, research management system, and involvement in international science and technology cooperation, with the focus on its efforts to implement the Smart Specialization Strategy and build excellence centers and national competitiveness centers. The two sides also conducted productive discussions on the launch of research collaboration projects.

The two sides summarized the implementation of the projects determined at the 11th meeting of the Committee and discussed and approved new bilateral inter-governmental science and technology exchange projects in extensive areas including physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture and food technology, information and communication technology, environmental protection, and materials science. After the meeting, the two sides signed the Agreement on the 12th Session of the Inter-governmental Committee between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Slovenia on Cooperation in Science and Technology.

During the visit, the Chinese delegation visited the Institute of Metals and Technology, the Reactor Center at the Jožef Stefan Institute, and the Karst Research Institute at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

The two sides agreed to hold the 13th Session of the Committee in China in 2020.