CAS President Bai Chunli (R) and Alexander Sergeev, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, at the signing ceremony of a document on science and scientific research cooperation between the two academies. [Image: CAS]

Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was invited to visit Spain, the United Kingdom and Russia from July 11 to 20.

In Spain, Bai visited the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the Institute of Marine Sciences under the Spanish National Research Council and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, and met with the heads of the three institutions.

He also witnessed the signing ceremony of an inter-school cooperation agreement between the University of CAS and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and a memorandum of understanding between the National Space Science Center of CAS and the Spanish National Research Council, hoping to promote cooperation with Spain in space science, satellite marine remote sensing, high performance computing and joint training of postgraduates.

In the UK, Bai met with the presidents of the University of Exeter, the University of Bristol and the University of Warwick to promote joint training and cooperation in research of mutual interests.

Bai received honorary doctorates from the University of Exeter and the University of Warwick.

 He signed a cooperation agreement between the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of CAS and the Warwick Manufacturing Group of the University of Warwick and in a speech at a graduation ceremony at Warwick he hoped the students will devote themselves to scientific research and invited them to continue their studies at CAS.

In Russia, Tatyana Golikova, deputy prime minister of Russia, met with Bai and congratulated him on the 70th anniversary of the founding of CAS on behalf of Russia. She pointed out that strengthening science and technology innovation was an important part of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and also a strategic choice in the long run.

She said Russia would actively implement the consensus reached by the two countries, launch the China-Russia Science and Technology Innovation Year successfully, promote cooperation between large-scale facilities, and encourage exchange of science and technology talents between the two countries.

She added that Russia attaches great importance to the proposal put forward by CAS on strengthening bilateral scientific and technological cooperation, which the government will support.

Bai Chunli suggested promoting cooperation between CAS and the Russian Academy of Sciences to a new level, namely a China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, and under that framework to institutionalize bilateral seminars between the two academies and establish long-term cooperation mechanisms for joint funding of projects. The Russian deputy prime minister responded positively to Bai’s suggestions.

During Bai’s visit to Russia, he and Alexander Sergeev, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, signed a route map of science and scientific research innovation cooperation between the two academies, clarifying the core directions for cooperation in the next five years.

Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)