Guests attending the ceremony included representatives from the Centre of Liver and Digestive Diseases of CUHK; Prof. Li Lanjuan, Director of the State Key Laboratory for Infectious Diseases Diagnosis and Treatment; Prof. Zheng Shusen, President of First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine of ZJU; Mr. Yang Jing, Director-General of Health Bureau of Zhejiang; Mr. Wang Xiaocun, Vice Director of Education Department of Zhejiang; Mr. Peng Bo, Deputy Director-General, Foreign Affairs Office of Zhejiang; and Prof. Si Jianmin, Vice-President of ZJU. On behalf of the two universities, Prof. Sung and Prof. Yang signed a collaboration agreement to consolidate the work plan of the joint research center in liver and digestive diseases. The CUHK delegation also visited the State Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases Diagnosis and Treatment, where they received updates on its research developments for collaboration opportunity.

Scholars from the Institute of Digestive Disease of CUHK, the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Center of ZJU, and the State Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases Diagnosis and Treatment, First Affiliated Hospital of ZJU, have been collaborating closely in the past years. The establishment of "The Chinese University of Hong Kong - Zhejiang University Joint Research Centre of Liver and Digestive Diseases" will further strengthen the research cooperation between CUHK and ZJU. Prof. Joseph Sung stated at the ceremony that ZJU has been CUHK's long-term partner in humanities, medicine and science. "The joint research centre will enhance our collaborative efforts in research, becoming a more systemized base for training and gathering of talents and scholars" he added.

CUHK established partnership with ZJU in 1991. Major collaboration projects have included joint research centers and/or laboratories on human reproduction and related diseases, advanced photonics, natural products and toxicology research, and biomedical engineering. In 2003, CUHK and ZJU signed student exchange agreement and the two universities have launched a series of student activities, exchange and internship programmes since then to enhance experiential learning for students. The partnership will continue to grow in a variety of areas.