From November 4 to 5, 2019, the Workshop on Innovation and Cooperation of APEC Centers and Long Term Mechanism was held in Suzhou. The workshop was attended by representatives of eight APEC centers/long-term mechanisms, member economies including China, Korea, APEC Secretariat, and the private sector. Ma Jiugen, Deputy Secretary General of Suzhou municipal government and Zhaojing, Deputy Director General of Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technoplogy of China, delivered welcome remarks. 

The workshop focused on three topics, including “Keynote Speech”, “Cooperation Cases and Projects Discussion” and “Work Plan of Each Center”.  The attendees discussed their cooperation cases, proposals and existing challenges for further cooperation among APEC Centers.

The workshop concluded with new thoughts of cooperation and better understanding of detailed cooperation projects. APEC Centers noted that the biggest chanllenge for them is lack of the information of each others and they thought it was necessary to establish a website to promote mutual understanding among all APEC long term mechanisms. 

[Background]

APEC member economies proposed to strengthen cooperation among PPSTI APEC centers in 6th PPSTI meeting in 2015. The 1st APEC-PPSTI APEC Centers Cooperation Conference was held in Pohang, Korea in 2016. Two years later, APCTT hosted the 2nd APEC-PPSTI APEC Centers Cooperation Conference in Suzhou,China in 2018. Reviewing the past two conferences, we realized that cooperation should be carried out in all APEC forums. To expand cooperation among over 20 APEC Centers/long term mechanisms, APEC Center for Technology Transfer applied to the APEC Secretariat for the workshop.