Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement Signed by Hunan Provincial People's Government and CAE

Hunan Provincial People s Government and the Chinese Academy of Engineering signed Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement in Changsha on October 24, 2010. Mr. Xu Kuangdi, Vice Chairman of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee, also Honorary Chairman of CAE, together with Mr. Zhou Qiang, Hunan Provincial Party Secretary, also chairman of the standing committee of the Hu-nan Provincial People s Congress, attended and addressed the ceremony.

Mr. Xu Shousheng, Deputy Party Secretary, also Governor of Hu-nan Province, and Mr. Zhou Ji, President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, signed the agreement on behalf of both parties.

The Opening Ceremony was presided over by Guo Kailang, Vice Governor of Hunan Province, and was attended by Mr. Pan Yunhe, Executive Vice President of CAE, Mr. Wang Dianzuo, former Vice President of CAE, Mr. Yang Baohua, Vice Chairman of Hunan Pro-vincial CPPCC, and more than 30 Members of CAE, as well as officials from relevant depart-ments of CAE and Hunan Provincial People s Government, along with chief leaders from in-stitutions of higher learning, research institutes and enterprises in Hunan Province.

In accordance with the agreement, both sides will consolidate collaboration in the fol-lowing aspects, that is, in decision-making consultation, in the promotion of the develop-ment of emerging industries of strategic impor-tance, in joint research and development, in academic activities organization and in the cul-tivation and introduction of science and tech-nology personnel.

A mechanism featuring dis-cussion and coordination between the Province and the Academy is supposed to be set up. CAE promises to make its endeavors to fulfill the following proposed duties, such as encour-aging and supporting the scientific and tech-nological achievements of CAE Members to go to Hunan for transformation and industrializa-tion, building Academician Working Stations of various types within high-tech parks, high-tech projects as well as scientific & tech-nological innovation platforms in Hunan, mak-ing joint efforts to apply for and undertake ma-jor scientific and technological projects of the nation, helping Hunan Province to bring in and cultivate scientific and technological talents that have great innovative capability and can play prominent roles in leading the huge num-ber of science and technology personnel in China, as well as science and technology inno-vation teams.

Both parties also agreed to estab-lish a coordination leading group responsible for all major issues concerning scientific and technological collaboration between CAE and Hunan Provincial People s Government, with one of its offices set in the Department of Science and Technology of Hunan Province, and the other one set in the Department of Academic Activities of CAE, handling daily work of the leading group.

Xu Kuangdi expressed his congratulations to both sides on the signing of the agreement, who then said, Hunan is quite rich in history, as well as beautiful landscapes and cultural depo-sits, which has long enjoyed the good reputa-tion that can be seen in a popular saying The best cultural deposits can only be found in Xiang and Chu while the best mountain-river landscapes can only be found in Hunan all over China .

( Xiang also refers to Hunan.) Xu continued to say that in the past thirty years after China s reform, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council of China, Hunan has made tremendous progress in its economic and social development, owing to the joint efforts of all the people in Hunan and its governments of all levels, who are well-united and committed to reformation, who also keep forging ahead, following the significant strategy of the nation Promoting the Development of Central China .

The following figures can well display the enormous economic and social development of Hunan. For example, during the "Eleventh Five-Year" period, the annual GDP growth rate of Hunan Province has remained to be more than 10%, and the province's GDP ranked the 10th of all the provinces in China in 2009.

As a matter of fact, CAE has always been highly concerned about the development of Hunan, and has established very close ties with various universities and enterprises in Hunan, which has actively involved itself in scientific and technological innovation activities in Hunan, thus making its contribution to the economic and social development of Hunan.

Xu pointed out that signing the agreement with Hunan Provincial People s Government can be seen as a specific practice for CAE to implement the policies, plans and decisions made by the State Council, and to conduct in-depth study and practice of the Scientific Outlook on Development. CAE will earnestly implement all the articles listed in the Agree-ment, further promote the comprehensive co-operation with Hunan, actively participate in the construction of an innovative system in Hunan, making scientific and technological in-novation play its key and core role in the acce-leration of the transformation of the mode of economic development and achieving sound and fast economic and social development, thus contributing to the promotion of economic de-velopment, scientific and technological progress and social harmony.

Zhou Qiang extended his gratitude for CAE and its leaders for their consistent assis-tance and support. Zhou said in his address that, in order to accelerate the transformation of the mode of the economic development, and propel the construction of a Four Hua s and Two Xing s society (Four Hua s refers to new industrialization, new urbanization, agricultural modernization and informationizaton, whereas Two Xing s refers to resource-conserving and environment-freindly), the most fundamental thing is to rely on the power of science and technology, the key is to substantially improve the capability of innovation.

To further streng-then and deepen the cooperation with the Chi-nese Academy of Engineering gives us great opportunities, as well as a huge potential. CAE is the top academic institution in engineering science and technology in China, which gathers in it a huge number of leading experts and science & technology professionals of various disciplines, industries and fields, thus enjoying rich research findings resources as well as scientific and technological innovation re-sources.

Therefore, the cooperation prospects between the two sides should be broad and promising, and the joint efforts of the two should achieve mutual benefit and a win-win result, Zhou said.

Zhou Qiang said that, signing of this Agreement is a milestone and marks a new phase for the cooperative relationship between Hunan Province and CAE, which will definite-ly help promote Hunan s thorough implemen-tation of what was agreed on in the Fifth Ple-num of the 17th CPC Central Committee, the acceleration of the transformation of the mode of economic development, and the construction of an innovative Hunan.

Hunan will take it as a precious opportunity, and take its initiative to strengthen communication and consultation with CAE, who will also endeavor to help set up and improve the discussion and coordination mechanism between the Province and the Academy, vigorously promote the implementa-tion of the Agreement, and strive to push the bilateral cooperation to a higher level.

(By Zhou Bin and Peng Zisheng, November 2010; trans-lated by Liu Chang)