On the afternoon of August 26, the Opening Ceremony of Sino-Russian Scientific and Technological Innovation Year was successfully held via video connection. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent letters of congratulation to the Opening of Sino-Russian Scientific and Technological Innovation Year, respectively. Academician Gao Fu, the researcher at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the director of the Academic Board signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation Between the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Mechnikov Vaccine & Serum Institute of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences with academician Oksana A. Svitich, the director of the Mechnikov Vaccine & Serum Institute of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, in order to jointly establish the Sino-Russian Novel Coronavirus Joint Research Centre or Joint Laboratory, carry out Sino-Russian pathogenic biology & immunology cooperation and microbiology & immunology joint big data platform establishment.

The Novel Coronavirus is a common enemy of mankind, therefore, the multinational consensus is to strengthen the global cooperation. The Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences lying front rank in the world on vaccine & antibody and relevant basic research, has the relevant innovation achievements with independent intellectual property, and positively carries out the global cooperative study. The Mechnikov Vaccine & Serum Institute of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences is a leading agency in the fields of medical microbiology, virology, immunology and biotechnology, which has created a new generation of immunobiology preparations for prevention of vaccine, antibody research, immunotherapy, and diagnosis of infectious disease, has a common research direction with the Institute of Microbiology, and keeps a good academic exchange relation in the relevant fields of both parties.

The cooperation between the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Mechnikov Vaccine & Serum Institute of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences is of great advantage to establish an international, professional, open and innovative exchange platform which is able to provide a stronger support and guarantee for prevention and control of infectious disease for both countries and even the word. In the future, both parties will continue to carry out cooperation in forms of academic exchange conference, young scientist exchange activities, postgraduate joint training and etc.

2020.8.26