To celebrate the 25th anniversary of partnership, Beijing and Moscow convened the roundtable meeting on sci-tech innovation both online and offline on December 8, 2020. Participants saw tremendous cooperation potential between the two sides.

At the site of sci-tech innovation roundtable meeting marking the 25th anniversary of the sister-city ties between Beijing and Moscow

Beijing and Moscow became sister cities in 1995. The roundtable meeting was co-organized by the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, the Department for Foreign Economic Activity and International Relations of Moscow, the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of Moscow, and the Department of Education and Science of Moscow under the guidance of  Foreign Affairs Office. Attendees from Beijing and Moscow had in-depth discussions on the development of innovation clusters and science parks, management of science cities, and cooperation in basic sciences.

According to Xu Xinchao, Vice Chairman of the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, Beijing is accelerating its efforts to build the city into an international center for sci-tech innovation and has made significant progress in the research and development of COVID-19 vaccines, innovative economic development, and business environment improvement.

Xu Xinchao said that Beijing and Moscow have great room for cooperation in fields like basic sciences, information technology, biomedicine and so on. "Beijing looks forward to extensive, continuous and in-depth cooperation with Moscow in sci-tech innovation."

At the site of the roundtable meeting on sci-tech innovation

China and Russia have designated 2020 and 2021 as the China-Russia Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation. China-Russia Mathematics Center, initiated by Peking University and Moscow State University, was launched at Peking University in June this year. It is an important component of the event. Zhang Jiping, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director of the China-Russia Mathematics Center, said that China and Russia were both major countries in science and technology and had strong strategic complementarity in this field. Universities of China and Russia, including Peking University and Moscow State University, have made continuous efforts to enhance their cooperation in talent cultivation, basic research and cutting-edge sciences and have scored fruitful results.

Sergei Cheryomin, head of the Department for Foreign Economic Activity and International Relations of Moscow, thanked China for helping Moscow during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Moscow Innovation Cluster and ZGC Group had signed a cooperation framework agreement. Sergei Cheryomin said that he looked forward to further cooperation between the two sides in sci-tech innovation. He wished the cooperation between Beijing and Moscow could be upgraded to country level.

Mayors of Beijing and Moscow signed online the 2021-2023 Cooperation Plan Between Beijing of the People's Republic of China and Moscow of the Russian Federation on December 7, 2020 to promote practical cooperation between the two cities in trade and investment, sci-tech innovation, education, urban planning, sports, public health, tourism and culture, media, etc.

Yin Fei, First-level Inspector of Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, said that the close friendship between Beijing and Moscow has played a leading role and set a good example of cooperation between China and Russia at the regional level. He anticipated further efforts from both sides to exploit the great potential of cooperation in fighting the pandemic, sci-tech innovation, digital economy and so on.

The roundtable meeting also saw the launch of the Russian division of the Sino-Russian Youth Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Creativity Competition.