At the invitation of the General Administration of Press and Publication of the PRC, Mr. Halbe Zijlstra, Vice Minister of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands visited China from 29 August to 3

The delegation listen to the report on IHEP scientific activities

September 2011, during which the vice minister and his delegation visited IHEP on August 30, 2011.

The delegation included high level academic representatives from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Prof. Chen Hesheng, the IHEP director and also CAS academician, introduced IHEP scientific activities at great length. He mentioned the history of BEPC construction and the recent upgrade to it. IHEP is now involved in many mega-science projects, including the Daya Bay Neutrino Experiment, the Yangbajing astro-physical programs, ADS Accelerator-driven Sub-critical System, CSNS China Spallation Neutron Source and so on. He also mentioned the spin-offs produced from IHEP scientific activities. The vice minister listened to those with great interest; he then toured the BEPCII storage ring.

After the vice minister left, NWO and KNAW representatives had informal discussions and exchanges with Prof Chen Hesheng and the IHEP scientists. The Netherlands friends raised questions ranging from scientific activities, budget support, and management mechanism to students cultivation and the relations between the Chinese universities and the research institutes. One by one, Prof. Chen Hesheng and Prof. Qin Qing answered the questions.

Both sides agree to remain in touch and further explore opportunities for future collaboration.