A delegation of the Chinese State Council Information Office (SCIO) in charge of the China Book International (CBI) program visited Springer’s Heidelberg offices on June 30th. The CBI program was launched in late 2004 and is managed by SCIO together with Chinas General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). The aim of the program, for which Derk Haank is member of the Advisory Board, is to introduce China to the world through books. The CBI program provides subsidies to books published in non-Chinese languages and distributed outside China.

During the meeting, Mr. Li Zhihui, Director of the State Council Information Office, gave an overview of the achievements of the first phase of the CBI program, and then introduced the plans for the further development. The delegation chose Springer as the main stop of their trip because Springer co-publishes the most STM books with Chinese publishers in the CBI program. Li Zhihui underlined, that Springer has been a close partner over many years, carried by good personal understanding and a very trustful cooperation.

Hubertus v. Riedesel congratulated Mr. Li to the great success of the CBI program and confirmed Springer’s interest to continue the collaboration with the CBI office for the second term. In his presentation on Springer, digital publishing, e-books and especially Open Access publishing were elaborated and highlighted. Ye Lu presented the achievements Springer has made for the CBI program in the past five years. Alfred Hofmann introduced LNCS as an example of digital publishing, emphasizing the good relationships Springer has made with Chinese authors. Active discussions took place throughout the meeting and during a following lunch. Additionally the delegation was given a guided tour through the Heidelberg castle.