A strategic cooperation agreement between China Iron & Steel Research Institute Group (CISRI) and Hebei Iron & Steel Group Co. Ltd.(HBIS) was signed in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province on Dec. 24,2009. Ganyong, CISRI board chairman, Tian Zhiling, CISRI vice president, Du  wansheng, director of scientific quality department of CISRI, and HBIS board chairman Wang Yifang, HBIS deputy board chairman Liu Rujun attended the ceremony. 
Hebei Iron & Steel Group is one of the world’s top 500 enterprises with iron and steel production capacity of 50 million tons, which ranks the country’s first under the leadership of provincial government after the reorganization. China Iron & Steel Research Institute Group is a national large-scale comprehensive scientific research institution which accumulates abundant scientific research strength and reserves fruitful research results. The cooperation between the two sides will actively promote enterprises and research institutes to establish long-term cooperation mechanism and build a broad platform. It is a very good external research environment for CISRI to creat the sustainable development. 
The two sides also implemented 8 cooperation contracts and terms including thin slab casting and rolling production of electrical steels, localization of thin-slab continuous casting mold, special steel bar wire variety,low temperature steel, running dynamics research and evaluation of blast furnace ironmaking process etc., with a total funding of about 10 million yuan. In addition, the laboratories of continuous casting and galvanizing are about to start.