Director Xiaotao Bi attended the 6th Canada-China Joint Committee meeting in Ottawa

Our Director Dr. Xiaotao Bi was invited by the Science, Technology and Innovation Division of Global Affairs Canada to attend the 6th meeting of the Canada-China Joint Committee (CCJC) on Science Technology and Innovation Cooperation held in Ottawa on February 24th and 25th.

Since the Agreement for Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Government of Canada and the Government of the People's Republic of China signed in January 2007, Canada and China have been regularly holding meetings on science and technology. There are almost 40 government sectors and over 130 representatives from both countries attending the meeting this year which is the highest numbers ever since. During the meeting, Canada and China signed a Joint Declaration on Clean Technology Cooperation (between Natural Resources Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology), a Letter of Intent to re-launch the Canadian International Innovation Program (between the National Research Council-Industrial Research Assistance Program and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology), as well as a Statement for the Canada-China Joint Science and Technology Action Plan 2016-2018.

Dr. Bi presented C-CJCBERI in the Clean Technology session of the meeting. He introduced the background of our Centre, updated with our progresses, and presented our goals and future plans. He also had a meeting with Mr. Jianing Cai, Counselor of Department of International Coorperation, China Ministry of Science and Technology. It is commonly acknowledged and mutually agreed that bioenergy as a renewable energy has high potential to replace fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Both countries will attach great importance to the development and utilization of bioenergy.

The mission of C-CJCBERI is well in line with the objectives declared in the Joint Declaration on Clean Technology Cooperation. Following the signing of the Statement for the Canada-China Joint Science and Technology Action Plan 2016-2018, next step is to formalize the various initiatives to be included in the 2016-2018 Action Plan. C-CJCBERI will stay connected and further seek supports and involvement with the Action Plan.