Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong addresses at the China-US Innovation-Driven Development Forum in Washington on Wednesday. Zhao Huanxin/China Daily

China welcomes talent from the United States and other countries to start businesses and engage in innovation in China, visiting Vice-Premier Liu Yandong said in Washington on Wednesday.

Speaking at the China-US Innovation-Driven Development Forum at the Brookings Institution, Liu proposed that the two largest economies in the world ramp up science and technological cooperation and innovation to benefit themselves and the world.

Liu, who arrived in Washington late Tuesday after attending a series of cultural events in New York, told the forum that Beijing encourages foreign-funded research and development organizations to undertake Chinese science and technology projects.

"Strengthening cooperation in technological innovation between the world's largest developed and the largest developing economies is a strategy and trend that conforms to the fundamental interests of both countries," Liu said at the opening of the forum.

Such cooperation also will be of tremendous significance to helping pull the global economy from recession and guiding innovation and development the world over, she said.

The two countries could make progress only in this regard, instead of retreating from such a trend, she said.

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong addresses at the China-US Innovation-Driven Development Forum in Washington on Wednesday. Dongle Leshuo/China Daily

The vice-premier proposed to focus the China-US sci-tech collaboration on key issues related to sustainable development and challenges facing the world, and target the areas that are of mutual concern.

The areas include clean energy, agricultural biotechnology, water conservation, bioinformation, system bio-medicine, and research to address pollution and extreme weather.

By working together to make breakthroughs in sci-tech projects and maximizing the benefits of innovation, many other countries, especially developing economies, will also benefit, she said.

John L. Thornton, co-chairman of the board of trustees at the Brookings Institution, said Vice-Premier Liu was one of China's most active proponents for accelerating innovation.

He said the world has seen massive investment pooled in areas such as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, renewable energy, mobile payments and industrial robotics.

"Advances in such cutting-edge sectors are already improving economies and lives in many places around the world," he said at the forum.

He also noted that China has made a strategic decision to become an innovation-led economy.

China's National Science and Technological Innovation Plan, announced last year, called innovation "a primary driving force for development", and President Xi Jinping has described innovation as "the soul of the people and the source for the country's prosperity".

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