On January 30, 2019, Minister Wang Zhigang of the Ministry of Science and Technology met with new German Ambassador to China Clemens von Goetze in Beijing. The two sides spoke highly of the development of China-German relations and China-Germany cooperation in STI, exchanged in-depth views on the four industrial revolutions in human history, AI, digital technology development and other topics of common concern, and discussed the development of STI in their respective countries and directions of future cooperation in an in-depth manner.

Minister Wang Zhigang remarked that in the past 40 years of China-Germany cooperation in science and technology the two countries have established a comprehensive strategic partnership, accomplishing fruitful results of cooperation in energy, environmental protection, automobile manufacturing and life sciences etc. Both sides enjoyed active personnel exchanges, a high level of cooperation between industries, academia and research institutions and a solid foundation for intergovernmental mechanisms. In the future, Minister Wang Zhigang proposed that the two sides should develop sound top-level designs under the existing cooperation framework, deepen personnel exchanges, joint R&D and policy dialogues in key areas, and push forward China-German STI cooperation in a more pragmatic direction.

Ambassador Clemens von Goetze actively echoed Minister Wang Zhigang‘s views and suggestions and expressed his appreciation of China's remarkable achievements in STI over the past 40 years. He said that he is ready to make every effort to promote STI cooperation between the two countries during his tenure.