Nations set to renew sci-tech pacts

China and the United States are likely to renew the Sino-US Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology - the bedrock of science diplomacy - by the end of the year.

This will reinvigorate government-level science exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, Sun Hui, director of Sino-US cooperation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

Late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping signed the agreement with former US president Jimmy Carter on Jan 31, 1979. It was one of the first and key acts of normalization between the two countries since they established formal relations on Jan 1, 1979, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.