Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

THE Conference on International Exchange of Professionals (CIEP), which had been delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak, kicked off online simultaneously in Beijing, Shenzhen and Moscow yesterday.

Wang Zhigang, minister of science and technology, Shenzhen Party chief Wang Weizhong and Falkov Valery Nikolaevich, minister of science and higher education of the Russian Federation, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

Representatives from technology ministries, higher learning institutions and enterprises from Russia and China viewed the opening ceremony online.

Wang Zhigang said the conference has invited Russia as a guest of honor and will feature a series of activities around Sino-Russian technological innovation cooperation.

Russia will showcase its achievements of technological innovations and talent exchanges with China online by putting 183 cooperative projects of 78 higher learning institutions and enterprises onto the Virtual Exhibition Hall.

The projects, according to Nikolaevich, involve sectors of new materials, biomedicine, ecological safety, information and agricultural technologies.

A Russian week event will last from today to Friday, during which Russian academics, professors and scientists will be invited to make presentations.

“The projects reflect geographic universality and diversity in Sino-Russian cooperation, and show the desire of Russian organizations to develop research and exchanges with Chinese experts,” said Nikolaevich, who believes the conference will consolidate achievements of the two countries in science and education, and make contributions to joint research in cutting-edge technologies.

Wang Weizhong said Shenzhen has made remarkable achievements through 40 years of development and become a magnet for global talent.

According to him, the city has 17,000 high-end professionals and 140,000 overseas-educated talented personnel.

“We curbed the spread of COVID-19 in one month, resumed production in two months and realized positive economic growth in the first six months of the year. All these showed Shenzhen’s vitality and resilience,” Wang said.

The online conference, hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Shenzhen government, will last until November. It has set up five functional areas — Virtual Exhibition Hall, Project Matching, Guest of Honor, Online Recruitment and Online Service.

Since its inception in 2001, the CIEP, as a platform on which international professionals and talent gather to exchange ideas and explore development opportunities, has been successfully held for 17 years.