The Shanxi provincial government and State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs signed an agreement on Jan 9 on their cooperation in using the foreign intellectual resources to promote the construction of Shanxi transformation and comprehensive reform pilot area.

The Shanxi province had invited 700 foreign experts in 2013, compared to an average of 300 annually over in previous years and, by the end of 2013, it had a total of 1021, even though that's still fewer than in most coastal provinces, such as Guangdong province, and it still lacks the proper amount of financial input, training abroad, and proportion of experts in education.

The agreement signed by Shanxi province and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs aims at supporting the introduction of foreign experts, especially in the coking, chemical, steel, electric power, advanced manufacturing, coal chemicals, new materials, and new energy industries. It will also seek help in building key national and provincial laboratories, technology R&D centers and institutions with international experts and outstandingly talented personnel. It is paying special attention to modern agriculture with the help of foreign professionals, advanced planting technology, production and management, and a cyclic economy in the cities of Taiyuan, Changzhi, Jincheng, Yuncheng, and Shuozhou for greater energy conservation and emissions reductions.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw