A signing ceremony via video conference was held in the afternoon of June 15, 2021, in the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as "SIMM") and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Republic of Serbia (hereinafter referred to as "MPN"). Mr. Branko Ruzic, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, Dr. Aleksandar Jovic, the Assistant Minister for International Cooperation, Dr. Marina Sokovic, the Assistant Minister for Science, Professor Jia Li, the Director General of SIMM, Professors Yang Ye, Zhaobing Gao and Qiang Zhao, the Deputy Directors of SIMM attended this signing ceremony.
Professor Jia Li gave an opening speech, in which he first expressed his delightfulness to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on education cooperation with the MPN, and then gave a brief introduction of SIMM to the Serbian officials. He pointed out that SIMM would strengthen the international scientific and technological cooperation by adopting a win-win strategy, and promote continuously the bilateral cooperation and common progresses. Next, Mr. Ruzic and Professor Li signed respectively the MOU in the presence of the attendants. Mr. Ruzic then congratulated the success of this signing ceremony, and expressed his recognition and appreciation for the fruitful cooperation between the University of Belgrade and the SIMM starting from 2015. He further stated that the MOU is of great significance to personnel exchanges and scientific cooperation between two countries. He expected that more Serbian students could come to the summer camps in China, and then study and grow up here as exchange students.
Professor Ye retrospected the collaboration between the SIMM and the University of Belgrade. In 2019, they jointly initiated the Pan-Balkan Alliance for Natural Products and New Drug Discovery (PANDA), which set up a science and technology exchange platform for China and Pan-Balkan cooperation, and attracted researchers in the field of natural products and food safety from 11 countries in the Pan-Balkan region. Based on the fruitful cooperation, the China-Serbia "Belt and Road” Joint Laboratory for Natural Products and Drug Discovery was approved to be set up by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in May 2021. The signing of this MOU is not only an important milestone, but also the beginning of a new chapter for the SIMM-MPN cooperation. Both sides will work in full cooperation to discover and develop new drugs from natural products, and eventually contribute to the human health.
Minister. Ruzic and Professor Li signed the MOU
