On Nov. 8, the opening ceremony of the 1st China – CEEC Conference on Innovation Cooperation was held in Nanjing. Mr. Wan Gang, the vice president of Chinese CPPCC and minister of MOST, and Mr. Li Qiang, Secretary of Party Committee of Jiangsu Province, attended the ceremony and delivered speeches. More than 300 representatives from the government and science and technology innovation authorities，as well as the scientific, business and academic industry，of China and Central and Eastern European countries attended the event.                               

Under the open, inclusive and balanced regional economic cooperation framework, centering on “China-CEEC Medium-Term Cooperation Plan”, all parties discussed the strategies and initiatives to implement comprehensive cooperation in science, technology and innovation, negotiate concrete business cooperation and major projects. In the opening ceremony, China and 16 CEEC countries jointly released the “Nanjing Declaration on China-CEEC Innovative Cooperation” and unveiled the "China-CEEC Virtual Technology Transfer Center." 

Mr. Wan Gang pointed out that, China-CEEC innovation cooperation reaches a new historical starting point. He hoped that representatives could have in-depth discussions on various topics and work together to contribute to the development of people-oriented science and technology innovation.  

During the Conference, a variety of events were arranged including Opening Ceremony, Innovation Cooperation Forum, Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, Technology Briefings, B2B Meetings, and On-site Visits to science parks and enterprises in different cities.