On April 24, 2018, the 43rd Regular Session of the China-Romania Inter-governmental Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation was held in Bucharest, Romania. The meeting was co-chaired by Huang Wei, Chinese Chairman of the Committee and Vice Minister of Science and Technology of China, and Nicolae Burnete, Romanian Chairman of the Committee and Minister of Education, Research and Innovation.

Vice Minister Huang Wei introduced to the Romanian side the strategic plan of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China for speeding up efforts to build China into an innovative country, the basic situation of science and technology innovation and development in China and the status quo of international cooperation in science and technology innovation, especially the four items in the Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan which Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the cooperation in innovation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries within the“16+1 Cooperation”framework. Minister Burnete introduced to the Chinese side Romania’s science and technology R&D policy, research administration system and progress in international cooperation in science and technology. Both sides agreed that the current exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese and Romanian science and technology circles enjoy a solid foundation and a sound momentum of development. The two sides agreed to promote cooperation in joint R&D projects and start the solicitation of the first group of joint R&D projects in the key fields of biological economy, information and communications, space, energy, environment and climate change, biological nanotechnology, advanced materials and health which are of common interest for both sides; to continue to hold China-Romania Workshop on Science and Technology Cooperation and forge close people-to-people exchanges in science and technology between the two countries; and to encourage collaborative institutions in both countries to build joint laboratories, joint R&D centers and commercialization incubators for scientific and technological results and other long-term cooperation platforms and promote the sustainable development of China-Romania cooperation in science and technology.

The two sides summed up the implementation of the projects approved at the 42nd Regular Session of the China-Romania Inter-governmental Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation, and discussed and adopted a new bilateral inter-governmental science and technology exchange project plan. After the meeting, the two sides signed the Protocol of the 43rd Regular Session of the Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation between the People‘s Republic of China and the Republic of Romania.   

As a supporting event of the regular session, the Third China-Romania Workshop on Science and Technology Cooperation was held in Brasov on April 25. The theme of the Workshop was Green Buildings and Building Industrialization. Vice Minister Huang Wei attended and addressed the opening ceremony and was invited to deliver an academic lecture on Long-Span Bridge Construction and Key Technologies in China.