China has conducted science cooperation with 152 countries and regions, and will further boost exchanges in the field in next five years, Xu Guanhua, minister of Science and Technology, said in Beijing Thursday.

"China's international science cooperation has reached an unprecedented development period," said Xu, at the ministry's national conference on foreign affairs opened here Thursday. "So far, the country has signed governmental science cooperation agreements with 99 countries, and a basic cooperation platform has been set up."

China has gained results through cooperation with many countries, including the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, especially in the past five years, Xu said.

In 1995 China and Russia worked together in developing a remote controlled submarine robot; the two sides have joined again in upgrading the deep sea robot that can operate at a depth of 7,000 meters.

Since 2005, the country has signed a number of technological development and service contracts with the European Union relating to the 3.5-billion-Euro Galileo system, a network of 30 satellites intended for civilian use.

Over the next five years, Xu said, the Ministry of Science and Technology will launch international cooperation in the fields of energy, water resources and environmental protection, improving food safety, the structure of agriculture products and biological technology.

Meanwhile, Xu said China should further increase the range of cooperation projects and encourage talent exchanges with other countries. All these efforts should serve the purpose of increasing China's own competitiveness, he added.

The meeting, with the theme of "promoting innovation and utilizing global resources," is to set new tasks for international science cooperation over the next five years.