On July 8, 2021, the fifth meeting of the China-Serbia Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation was held via video link in Beijing and Belgrade. The meeting was co-chaired by Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology Huang Wei and State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Dukic Mijatovic.

The two sides briefed each other on their R&D and innovation policies and the implementation of the researcher mobility and joint R&D projects identified at the fourth meeting, reviewed the funding plan for the bilateral joint R&D projects in 2021-2023, discussed the future prospect of China-Serbia science and technology cooperation, and agreed on the time and place of the sixth meeting.

Vice Minister Huang Wei said that in recent years, intergovernmental science and technology cooperation between China and Serbia has entered the stage of healthy and stable development. Research institutes and researchers of the two countries have strengthened communication and mutual trust through research cooperation, and the China-Serbia Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation has played an important role in this regard. He believed that the regular meeting will provide new opportunities for better and faster development of science and technology cooperation between the two sides.

State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Dukic Mijatovic said that Serbia and China enjoy traditional friendship. Cooperation with China, especially in the fields of science, technology and innovation (STI), is of vital importance to Serbia. As traditional friendship between the two countries grows ever closer, the two sides will embrace an even broader prospect for STI cooperation.

At the end of the meeting, the two sides signed the Protocol of the Fifth Meeting of the China-Serbia Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation.

Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

Other participants attended the meeting, include Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology Ye Dongbai, Director of China Science and Technology Exchange Center Gao Xiang, and representatives of Beijing General Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology on the Chinese side, and State Secretary Ivica Rakovic and Assistant Ministers Aleksandar Jovic, Marina Sokovic and Sasa Lazovic at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development on the Serbian side.