CAE President Zhou Ji met with a delegation of led by Kim Carr, Head of the Innovation, Industry and Research Department of Australia in CAE Office Building on August 4, 2011. The delegation is composed of ten delegates, including officials from the Innovation, Industry and Research Department of Australia, Robin Batterham, President of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), as well as officials from the Australian Embassy in China. CAE Executive Vice President Pan Yunhe, together with CAE Vice President Xie Kechang and Former Vice President Wang Dianzuo were also present during the meeting. 

Zhou first of all expressed his warm welcome to all visiting delegates, saying this visit is of great importance. Zhou then congratulated on the newly-held China-Australia Ministers in Science and Technology Joint Commission, and reviewed the close and fruitful cooperative relationship that CAE has long enjoyed with the engineering science and technology world in Australia, including ATSE. Zhou promised that CAE would get itself actively involved in the cooperative efforts in science and technology between China and Australia, with special attention going to the long-term cooperation with ATSE in strategic studies in the engineering sector, hoping to contribute to the engineering science and technology cooperation by joining hands with ATSE. 

Carr first of all pointed out the important position of both China and Australia among their respective science and technology cooperative partners, as well as the extraordinarily rapid development tendency of science and technology collaboration between both countries. Besides, Carr also extended his wish to enhance cooperation in fields like engineering, medicine, physics, astronomy, computer science, and so on with China through workable, practical and effective measures. Carr also said that, in the global context, Australian government wants to accelerate the scientific and technological transformation, applying advanced engineering science and technology achievements to social economy and people’s lives. And it is just based on this determination that Australia has set up a Sino-Australia Cooperation Foundation in the hope of expanding exchanges and cooperation with China in areas like institutions, enterprises and doctoral students. 

Based upon the urgent need for economic development and bilateral cooperation between China and Australia, both sides reached agreements as to the major forms and content for future exchanges and cooperation as follows: 

First, both China and Australia are at a key transition period for economic development in their history, and the economic ties in between are getting increasingly closer. In fact, both countries need to depend largely on the power of science and technology, increase the capability to innovate, and speed up the pace to transform science and technology to practical productive forces, so as to better serve the economic development and people’s livelihood. Actually, governments and the business world in both countries face similar situation and have similar perception. 

Second, in the above-mentioned situation for development, engineering science and technology institutions in both countries should play a pioneering role and shoulder significant historic mission. Therefore, the cooperation between CAE and ATSE is of crucial importance. Both Academies agreed to the consensus reached in the China-Australia Science and Technology Ministers Joint Commission in terms of cooperation in fields such as engineering, medicine, physics, astronomy and computer science, among others. Both Academies also extended their willingness to carry out strategic consultation work concerning issues to their mutual concern. 

Thirdly, both countries hope to achieve mutual recognition of doctoral degree pursued in the other country, carry out joint degree pilot study, establish joint training program between universities and corporations, based on the promotion of doctoral degree students joint training system, so as to facilitate the process for outstanding engineering science and technology personnel in both countries to play more active roles in business development as well as social production in both China and Australia. The realization of the above goal should rely much on the support and assistance coming from China-Australia Cooperation Joint Commission, both governments’ special fund, as well as CAE and ATSE, that is, academies in the engineering field at the national level in both countries. 

Last but not least, as big coal consumers in the world, both China and Australia will strengthen exchanges in the field of energy, clean coal utilization in particular. CAE Vice President Xie Kechang will lead a delegation of experts to Australia in the end of year 2011, hoping to further exchanges and cooperative research efforts in fields like the ultra-clean use of brown coal resources and carbon, carbon capture and use, as well as coal equipment reform with their Australian counterparts. 

After the meeting, President Robin Batterham of ATSE issued Foreign Member Certificate to CAE Member Zhou Ji, the newly elected Foreign Member of ATSE. 

ATSE is one of the founding members of CAETS, enjoying great prestige and reputation in the world engineering science and technology community. There are 820 Members of ATSE in total, along with 21 Foreign Members, with one or two of them being elected once a year. So far, there are only three Chinese Foreign Members of ATSE, namely, Xu Kuangdi, Honorary Chairman of CAE, Zhou Ji, President of CAE, as well as Prof. Tang Wenhua, from China Agriculture University. ATSE is also the very first Academy among all national academies of engineering in the world which established cooperative relationship with CAE. As a matter of fact, shortly after the founding of CAE, Zhu Guangya, President of CAE at that time, paid his visit to ATSE and signed Agreement for Cooperation between both Academies. Over the past decade, both Academies have carried out academic exchanges in areas like mineral processing, information, energy, and engineering education, which directly promoted the exchanges and communication between both Academies, as well as the science and technology community in both countries. In addition, Zhou said that winning the title of Foreign Member of ATSE is not only a great glory for himself, but also a reflection of friendship between ATSE and CAE. Zhou also expressed his hope that both Academies should further their exchanges and cooperation, contributing positively to the development of engineering science and technology in both countries. Finally, both sides agreed that the exchange and cooperation between Chinese and Australian Governments as well as Academies would definitely promote the progress in engineering science and technology in both countries, and enhance the friendship between peoples of both countries. (By Kong Yaqing, September 2011; translated by Liu Chang)