The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Rome on May 5th to join the Seventh Plenary Session of the Italy-China Government Committee and discuss the current and future status of the bilateral cooperation with his counterpart, the Italian Republic Foreign Ministry Paolo Gentiloni. The inaugural session, that took place in the morning at Palazzo Madama, was attended by a highly variegated group of experts and representatives in various fields. Besides the strengthening of the mutual relationships, considering also the approaching of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationships between the two countries, most of the forum was focused on the topics related to the economic and commercial partnerships. In this sense, the role of Città della Scienza as coordinator and organizer of the China-Italy Innovation Forum – within the China-Italy Science, Technology and Innovation Week – was mentioned as crucial. During the afternoon different sessions were held with different discussion groups. A specific roundtable focused on the presentation of the projects that previously obtained the funding of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. A following meeting involved the representatives in charge of the organization of the 2016 edition of the Italy-China Science, Technology & Innovation Week. The Italian group was composed of the CEO of Città della Scienza Vincenzo Lipardi, the Diplomat Counselor of the Minister Stefania Giannini – Dr. Gianluigi Benedetti -, and the General Director of the Research Development of the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research – Dr. Fabrizio Cobis. The Chinese counterpart included the guest representative of the Minister of Science and Technology, the Head of the International Cooperation Division Liao Jinrong and the Science of Technology Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Italy Cao Jianye. Besides the contents already experienced during the past editions, the Italy-China Business Forum has been a valuable opportunity to present the new features of the upcoming edition of the Italy-China Science, Technology & Innovation Week as the “start-up competition” between Chinese and Italian participants and a specific session dedicated to the innovative makers.

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