Xu Guanhua, China's Minister of Science, and Claudie Haignere, France's Minister Delegate in charge of research and new technologies in the Ministry of Youth, National Education and Research, attended today's ceremony held in Beijing. Both said they expected more scientific cooperation between China and France.

To strengthen cooperation in basic research and hi-tech fields, the Chinese and French governments signed an agreement in Beijing in 1991 on the "Advanced Research Project". Both governments set up a specific fund to support its introduction.

The project covered such fields as biological technology, biological medicine, applied mathematics and automation, the environment, materials and geography. Cooperation involved such activities as research projects, seminars and joint laboratories.

Over the past 10 years, a total of 241 programs have been carried out under the agreement. Some 10,000 Chinese experts have traveled abroad on academic exchanges and around 4000 French experts have visited China. Eight joint laboratories have been setup in China.

In the future, China and France will launch a new scheme within the current framework called the "Net Research Project", which aims to promote top-level scientific cooperation between both countries.

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2002)