In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Land and Resources of China and the International Union of Geological Sciences for Hosting the IUGS Permanent Secretariat in China signed at the 34^th International Geological Congress (IGC) held in Brisbane, Australia in August 2012, the Permanent Secretariat of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) was successfully relocated from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to China and hosted at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS) in late 2012. The commitment of the Chinese side for hosting the IUGS Secretariat will remain in force for a period of eight years as indicated in the above MOU.

Since its successful relocation to China, the IUGS Secretariat has maintained efficient operation and completed a large amount of work. It successfully organized a number of IUGS routine meetings, including the 66^th IUGS Executive Committee (EC) Meeting in Paris, France in 2013; the 67^th IUGS EC Meeting in Goa, India in 2014; the 68^th IUGS EC Meeting in Vancouver, Canada in 2015 and several IUGS Bureau Meetings. It set up IUGS exhibition booths at the Geological Society of America’s 125^th Anniversary Annual Meeting& Exposition in Denver, the United States in 2013, and facilitated the organization of a forum for the IUGS research initiative “Resourcing Future Generations (RFG)” and the IUGS exhibition booths during China Mining Congress & Expo in 2014. The Secretariat has also accomplished many other daily tasks in line with its duties.

The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) is one of the largest and most active non-governmental scientific organizations in the world. Founded in 1961, IUGS is a member of the International Council of Science (ICSU). IUGS promotes and encourages the study of geological problems, especially those of world-wide significance, and supports and facilitates international and interdisciplinary cooperation in the earth sciences.

IUGS Secretariat is a permanent administrative body of the IUGS Executive Committee. It was initially hosted at the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), and was then relocated to the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) in 1992 and later to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 2010.