A conference on international S&T cooperation in the area of traditional Chinese

medicine, co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry

of Health, State Food and Drug Administration, State Administration of Chinese

Traditional Medicine, State Intellectual Property Office, and World Health

Organization, dropped its curtain in the afternoon of November 29, 2007. The

meeting produced a Beijing Declaration, showing the consensus on promoting

cooperation in the area of traditional Chinese medicine through government

channels.

The Beijing Declaration states that the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and

other schools of medicine may lead to a novel healthcare model for humans, and will

effectively lower down healthcare costs for both individuals and institutions. Innovation

and diffusion of traditional Chinese medicine needs the support of modern science. Newly

emerged disciplines, such as genomics, and the steady growth of basic knowledge, in

particular, bioinformatics, has provided both means and ways for interpreting the basic

principles of traditional Chinese medicine, and associated innovation. It is necessary to

promote innovations of traditional Chinese medicine through enhanced international

cooperation, in an attempt to further enrich its theoretical system, improve people's

understanding of traditional Chinese medicine, raise the level of safety, effectiveness, and

quality of traditional Chinese medicine, and accelerate the modernization and

internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine industry. Conference recognizes that

aiming at the common cause of human healthcare, the international S&T cooperation

program in the area of traditional Chinese medicine will strive to enhance the capacity of

traditional Chinese medicine in improving people's health, through international S&T

cooperation and exchange. Conference also stresses that substantial R&D cooperation

shall be fostered among universities, research institutes, and industries in the area of

traditional Chinese medicine, including establishing bilateral and multilateral clinical

research centers and joint labs for the purpose.(CHINA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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