KUNMING, Oct. 22 -- The government of southwest China's Yunnan Province honored 10 foreign experts with the 2019 Yunnan Friendship Award for their outstanding contributions to the development of Yunnan on Monday.

The foreign experts are from Thailand, Chile, Japan, Australia, Belgium and other countries involved in the fields of modern agriculture, biomedicine, education and scientific research.

Established in 1997, the award, also known as the "Caiyun Award," is the highest prize awarded by the provincial government to foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to Yunnan.

A total of 170 foreign experts have won the award so far, according to the provincial government.

Yunnan has implemented a strategy of introducing foreign experts for innovation, which promoted international exchanges and cooperation and made contributions to the economic and social development of the province, according to local authorities.