From May 17 to 26, 2018, Li Meng, Vice Minister of Science and Technology of China, led a delegation to Greece, Sweden and Denmark, where he co-chaired a meeting of the Sino-Hellenic Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation, attended the Ninth Clean Energy Ministerial and the Third Mission Innovation Ministerial, and visited relevant agencies.

During the visit to Greece, Vice Minister Li Meng co-chaired with Costas Fotakis, Alternate Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs of Greece, the 12th meeting of the Sino-Hellenic Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation, where the two sides signed the Minutes of the 12th Meeting of the Sino-Hellenic Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation and the Action Plan of Sino-Hellenic Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation and agreed to further deepen cooperation in areas including environmental and sustainable development, energy, agricultural produce, cultural heritage protection, electronic information, new materials, life science and science park. The two sides stated that the Belt and Road Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping has provided new strategic opportunities for the bilateral cooperation and agreed to strengthen people-to-people exchanges in science and technology and cooperate on joint laboratories, science park and technology transfer within the framework of the Belt and Road Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Action Plan, thereby substantiating the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Greece. The meeting was also attended by Kostas Gabroglou, Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs of Greece. The Chinese delegation led by Vice Minister Li Meng also visited two most influential multidisciplinary research institutions in Greece — National Centre of Scientific Research “Demokritos” and Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas — and discussed with them on advancing cooperation in priority areas including nanomaterials, microelectronics, and computational science.

During the visit to Denmark, Vice Minister Li Meng met with Minister for Development and Cooperation Ulla Tørnæs and Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Higher Education and Science Agnete Gersing and visited Niels Bohr Institute and Center for Quantum Devices at University of Copenhagen, all along accompanied by Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Deng Ying. The two sides had discussions on STI policy and innovation-driven development and agreed to further promote joint research and personnel exchange and collaboration between research institutes of the two countries and strengthen cooperation in polar research, sustainable development and disruptive technologies to contribute S&T deliverables to the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Denmark. Li Meng introduced China’s STI policy and reorganization of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, expounded on the concept of green development, shared China’s measures of leading high-quality development, and emphasized China’s dedication to strengthening open collaboration in innovation capacity building. The Danish side introduced its Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) initiative.

During the visit to Sweden, Vice Minister Li Meng visited the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and its Robotics Lab, where he proposed promoting bilateral research collaboration in artificial intelligence, and then visited Hammarby Smart City, where the two sides agreed to promote exchanges and cooperation between innovative Chinese cities and Hammarby.