Cao Zhongming (second from right), China's ambassador to Belgium, poses for a photo with the three winners of the Friendship Award of the Chinese Government at the Chinese embassy in Brussels. [Photo by Chen Weihua/China Daily]

Three Belgian expats received this year's Friendship Award of the Chinese Government, the highest laurel for foreign experts who have made an outstanding contribution to China's modernization, reform and opening up.

Among them was Francois Serneels, quality and environment manager of the Center for Agronomy and Agro-industry of the Belgium province of Hainaut and adjunct professor of biology at the University of Condorcet. He was recommended by North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Serneels has been engaged in agricultural application promotion and research for a long time.

He was recognized for introducing a potato disease early warning system to China, a system that is now applied in 14 provinces, as well as introducing new potato growing techniques.

In 2015, Yakeshi Senfeng Potato Industry Co, located in Inner Mongolia’s Hulunbuir city, formally cooperated with the Hainaut agronomy center to establish a China-Belgium International High-quality Seed Potato Production Technology Demonstration Base.

Through several years of exchanges and cooperation, the company has mastered advanced potato planting technology with the help of Serneels, further improved the level of planting technology, helped local farmers increase potato production and assisted them to increase their incomes.

In the past five years, Inner Mongolia has continued to expand foreign cooperation and exchanges in science and technology and promoted the integration of the work of foreign experts with the region's science and technology planning system.

The Ministry of Science and Technology and Inner Mongolia have supported nearly 300 foreign expert projects during the period, with a budget of more than 50 million yuan ($7.07 million).

The move has provided talent support for technology innovation in the region in the fields of high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials and modern agriculture and animal husbandry.