On the afternoon of December 10, 2019, the symposium with Russian Scientific and Technological Cooperation Organization was held in Beijing. Xu Haoqing, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Expert Services of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Xia Bing, Deputy Director of the China International Talent Exchange Center, and relevant personnel of the Department of Overseas Intellectual Resources Cooperation and the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Science and Technology Division of Chinese Embassy in Russia, Tsinghua University Russian Institute and Shenzhen Center for International Exchange of Personnel held a symposium with representatives from 6 science and technology cooperation organizations including the Russian International Science and Technology Cooperation Association, the Russian Union of Scientific and Engineering Associations, the All-Russian Society of Inventors and Creators, the Russian (International) College Students Federation, the Russian S&T Cooperation and Personnel Exchange Center and Shivabo Innovation Holdings Group that participated in the Russian Scientific and Technological Cooperation Organization China Tour. The symposium was presided over by Liu Yongzhi, Level I Inspector of the China International Talent Exchange Center.

At the symposium, Zhang Tian, Second Secretary of the Science and Technology Division of Chinese Embassy in Russia, first introduced the basic information on the Russian Scientific and Technological Cooperation Organization China Tour. According to Zhang, after 9 days’ investigation and symposium-based exchange, the Russian Scientific and Technological Cooperation Organization Delegation (hereinafter the Delegation) got a basic understanding of the science and technology innovation status quo and cooperation demands of representative provinces/cities in China such as Hebei, Zhejiang and Shenzhen, perceived the strong desire for China-Russia cooperation among local players, and identified the starting point for cooperation. This event basically completed the task of serving commanding HQ decision-making, serving arrangement of Sino-Russian Scientific and Technological Innovation Year, serving the 18th Conference on International Exchange of Professionals (hereinafter the CIEP).

After that, representatives of three science and technology cooperation organizations including the Russian International Science and Technology Cooperation Association, the Russian Union of Scientific and Engineering Associations and the Russian (International) College Students Federation delivered a speech respectively, sharing their feelings and experience during the visit to China and providing comments and suggestions about how to enhance China-Russia cooperation in science and technology innovation.

Dmitri Prosov, Director of the Russian International Science and Technology Cooperation Association, said during his speech that the Russian Scientific and Technological Cooperation Organization China Tour, organized by Chinese Embassy in Russia and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, featured well designed itinerary, rich contents and great benefit. After returning to Russia, he will actively boost cooperation with subject provinces and cities in China. He also pointed out the following issues worth of attention: currently, some Russian companies still feel doubtful about protection of intellectual property in China in the China-Russia science and technology field; few successful cases regarding China-Russia cooperation in SMEs can be used as reference; information asymmetry is identified in the S&T community and enterprises in both countries, subject to inaccuracy, unreliability and incompleteness of information; with Russia’s S&T community entering into transition stage, a large number of young science and technology workers emerged, so the China-Russia science and technology cooperation tradition should be enhanced among the young generation. In these regards, the Russian International Science and Technology Cooperation Association will join hands with China to take effective measures, with an aim to overcome the difficulties, clear the doubts and boost the practical cooperation between China and Russia.

Sergey Drukarenko, Vice Chairman and Executive Chairman of Russian Union of Scientific and Engineering Associations, put forward the following suggestions during his speech: China and Russia can carry out cooperation in various forms in engineering technology field, such as joint publication of engineering technology handbook (Chinese version) containing definitions of terms, technical standards, among others; jointly carry out design and research, determine development directions and goals of Chinese and Russian engineering personnel, thus allowing development of Chinese and Russian engineering technology personnel to reach international advanced level. At the same time, he also hoped that China will actively participate in the planning and preparation of the Union’s international meeting to be held in 2021 Q4; organize Chinese engineers to participate in events organized by the Union such as annual engineer competition, with an aim to enhance cooperation and exchange between China and Russia.

Oleg Sanko, Senior Consultant (former Vice Chairman) of the Russian College Students Federation, was very satisfied with the practical, deep and meticulous working attitude of Chinese representatives. Especially, he was deeply impressed by the demand list of projects with Russia collected and prepared by Hebei Province. However, he also pointed out the following issue: due to language barrier, both parties fail to accurately communicate a lot of information during the exchange process. In view of this, he suggested that each party can translate the core contents of cooperation into the language of the other party in future cooperation and provide such materials to the other party in advance, so as to facilitate subsequent communication and exchange.

During free exchange stage, Dong Ge, Vice President of Tsinghua University Russian Institute, and Xu Haoqing, Deputy Director of Department of Foreign Expert Services of the Ministry of Science and Technology, delivered a speech successively.

Vice President Dong Ge introduced the basic information on the institute, and exchanged opinions on next stage cooperation with Russia. During the exchange, Deputy Director Xu Haoqing introduced the long history of China-Russia friendship and good tradition in science and technology cooperation, and expressed China’s constant wish to carry out science and technology innovation cooperation with Russia. According to Xu, China-Russia science and technology innovation cooperation shall be win-win cooperation based on active pursuit of mutual benefit and care, respect for each other’s laws and protect mutual legal rights and interests; long-term cooperation between China and Russia and other countries; in-depth cooperation integrating expert exchange with technical cooperation, expert introduction with long-term talent development, expert institutions and universities with enterprises, and personnel, technology, project, fund and platforms, with a view to facilitating development in basic research, applied research, product transformation, among others; and innovation cooperation in pursuit of effective cooperation approaches in accord with both countries’ circumstances with an aim to realize information symmetry and supply & demand information sharing by the construction of platform and network.

At the end of the symposium, Xia Bing, Deputy Director of the China International Talent Exchange Center, made a summary speech. According to Xia, development is the first priority, people is the first resource, and innovation is the first impetus. In June this year, Presidents of Russia and China announced the establishment of comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era and took science and technology innovation as the theme of the first China-Russia national year in the new era. This measure has elevated China-Russia science and technology innovation cooperation to a new level in history and shed light on the major direction of cooperation between China and Russia in the new era. With talent cooperation serving as the foundation of all types of cooperation and talent exchange as significant means for facilitating exchange in all fields, the Conference on International Exchange of Professionals themed “pooling global intellectuals, boosting innovation cooperation and pursuing joint development”, which has been held for 17 sessions, serves as a critical platform for international science and technology innovation and talent exchange. By virtue of the CIEP, it can not only increase the exchange between China and Russia and reduce barriers, but also expand cooperation channels, realize mutual beneficial cooperation between China and Russia and other countries, and achieve win-win results.