On January 20, the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding on Deepening Cooperation in Engineers’ Competence Building between the CAST Center for Professional Training and Services and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) was held through by virtual means. Song Jun, Secretary of the Secretariat of the CAST, attended and addressed the ceremony. Graham Woodrow, member of the Engineering Council UK (ECUK) and member of the International Advisory Committee, attended the ceremony, and Nigel Fine, Chief Executive and Secretary of IET, delivered a speech.

First of all, Song Jun retrospected the friendly relationship and cooperation between the two sides in recent years and affirmed the achievements of both sides in engineer qualification certification and engineering capacity building. He said that the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind is becoming increasingly important in face of COVID-19, and the engineers worldwide are playing an irreplaceable role in combating the pandemic. The CAST is a mass organization of Chinese technologists that brings together a great number of outstanding engineering and technical professionals and is now promoting the establishment of the CSE. He hoped that the two sides would, taking this ceremony as an opportunity, deepen mutual practical cooperation in the field of engineering competency building, agree on new modes and paths of mutual cooperation in engineer qualification certification through negotiation, and establish deeper, broader and substantive cooperation in promoting the international mobility of engineers and global governance in engineering.

Nigel Fine looked back on the fruits of mutual cooperation in high-level visits, international journals, international conferences, international engineer standard certification, and other aspects. He stressed that the signing of this MoU marked a new start of the two sides in deepening cooperation, and IET would be willing to offer assistance in improving the CSE’s engineering competency assessment system and promoting the mutual recognition of engineering evaluation standards between China and the UK according to relevant provisions in the MoU. He expressed support for the CSE’s establishment and his hope to further strengthen mutual cooperation and interaction by building communication channels for Chinese and British engineers and promoting international mobility of engineers so that engineering technology would produce more benefits for all mankind.

Zheng Kai, Director of the CAST Center for Professional Training and Services, and Nigel Fine signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Deepening Cooperation in Engineers’ Competence Building on behalf of the two sides as a result of the seminar. This is the first time that the two sides established cooperation in specific fields since the signing of a MoU between the CAST and the IET in 2014, which will be of great significance in strengthening the engineering capabilities of both sides and promoting the bilateral mutual recognition of engineering qualifications.