The 51st CCOP Annual Session Held in Xi’an
The 51st Annual Session of the Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) was successfully held in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province of China on November 23-26, 2015. It was sponsored by CCOP and organized by China Geological Survey (CGS), Ministry of Land and Resources of China (MLR).
The Opening Ceremony of the Annual Session was held on the morning of November 24, with the presence of more than 100 delegates from CCOP Member Countries, Cooperating Countries, Cooperating Organizations and CCOP Technical Secretariat.
On behalf of the Chinese host, Dr. Zhang Hongtao, Counselor of the State Council of People’s Republic of China and former Permanent Representative of China to CCOP, Dr. Li Jinfa, Vice President of CGS and Permanent Representative of China to CCOP, and Mr. Bai Xingbi, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Science, Technology and International Cooperation, MLR addressed the Opening Ceremony. Prof. Wang Xiaolie, Vice President of CGS and Executive Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS) also attended the Opening Ceremony. From the CCOP side, Dr. Eikichi Tsukuda, Chairman of the CCOP Steering Committee and Dr. Ioannis Abatzis, Vice-Chairman of the CCOP Advisory Group delivered welcome addresses.
Dr. Li Jinfa pointed out in his address that as the only inter-governmental geoscience organization in the East and Southeast Asia, CCOP had contributed a great deal to the sustainable economic growth and local people’s livelihood improvement in the region by actively coordinating geoscience programmes and enhancing geoscience capacity building in mineral resources development and utilization, correlation on trans-boundary metallogenic belts, geochemical mapping, geo-environment and geohazards, marine resources investigation, underground water investigation and assessment, global climate change, geo-information management and other related fields.
Dr. Li Jinfa mentioned that as one of the founding Members Countries of CCOP, China had been actively supporting CCOP geoscience programmes and activities by leading a number of geoscience projects, organizing workshops and training courses, and providing appropriate financial and technical assistance.
Dr. Li Jinfa put forward the following three proposals for future cooperation:
First, China called for active participation of CCOP Member Countries, Cooperating Countries and Cooperating Organizations in China’s national geoscience research plan under the “One Belt, One Road Initiative” to jointly promote cooperation and exchanges in energy resources, mineral resources, underground water, geo-environment and geo-information.
Second, the Chinese government recently approved CGS-proposed project “China-ASEAN Marine Geoscience Research and Geo-hazard Prevention & Reduction”, under which marine geo-hazard research and monitoring would be conducted. Through the implementation of the project, cooperation among the CCOP Member Countries and ASEAN countries would be strengthened in terms of personnel exchanges, resources sharing, case studies and technology transfer. In the next five years, China planned to provide training courses to marine geoscientists for the CCOP Member Countries and ASEAN countries to jointly enhance the capabilities in scientific forecasting, geo-hazard prevention and reduction, and marine mineral resources assessment.
Third, China called for further cooperation in geo-environment protection, geo-hazards (such as collapse, landslides and mud flows) and mine environment so as to safeguard regional stability.
Following the conclusion of the 51st CCOP Annual Session, the 65th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting will also be held in the same conference venue.
Previously, China successfully hosted the 42nd CCOP Annual Session and 46th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting in Beijing in 2005.
