On the afternoon of November 19, Sun Fuquan, Vice Mayor of Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, and Dong Faqin, President of the Southwest University of Science and Technology, visited CASTED. President Hu Zhijian and Vice President Liu Dongmei received the visiting delegation. The heads of the Department of Research Management, the Institute of Technology Foresight and Evaluation, the Institute of Rural and Regional Development, the Institute of S&T Statistics and Analysis, the Institute of S&T for Industrial Development, the Institute of S&T Investment and the Institute of S&T Systems and Management attended the meeting.

Sun Fuquan introduced the background and significance of cooperation between the two sides. Dong Faqin reviewed the history of cooperation, and put forward suggestions and ideas on further strengthening cooperation in strategic research, personnel training, institution building and other fields. Hu Zhijian introduced the development of CASTED in recent years, and expressed satisfaction with the achievements made by the two sides in cooperative research and collaborative development. He hoped that in the future, the two sides could build on the existing foundation of friendship and cooperation to do a good job in the building of cooperative research base, and continue to promote research cooperation in military-civilian integration, Belt and Road cooperation and international S&T cooperation strategy, so as to contribute to the development of China (Mianyang) Science and Technology City.

Hu Zhijian and Dong Faqin signed the agreement on the co-construction of the CASTED cooperative research base (SWUST) respectively on behalf of the two sides. The signing ceremony was presided over by Liu Dongmei.

Before the signing ceremony, the two sides carried out a joint study session on the university’s research achievement, “Comparative Study on the Models of International Operation of National Laboratories”. Vice President Chen Chaoxian moderated the study session. The heads of the Social Sciences Department, Science and Technology Department, Marxist College and College of Literature and Arts of the Southwest University of Science and Technology also participated in the above activities. The signing of the agreement opened a new chapter of CASTED’s cooperation with local partners.