CAS President Bai Chunli visits the CADIC. [Image: Bureau of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sciences]

A delegation led by Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited to visit the Hassan II Academy for Science and Technology of Morocco and Argentina's National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Spanish: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), CONICET, from November 28 to December 6.

The tour of the CAS delegation was undertaken to promote exchanges and cooperation in scientific research, construction of the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO) in the Belt and Road region and personnel training.

At a meeting with Omar Fehri, head of the Hassan II Academy for Science and Technology of Morocco, Bai reviewed cooperation progress between the two academies since they signed an agreement on research and personnel cultivation in 2012.

Bai briefed Fehri on ANSO’s progress and plans and thanked the Hassan II Academy for Science and Technology for joining the alliance as a founding member.

Fehri introduced the Hassan II Academy for Science and Technology and its achievements in technological consultation, scientific research funding, science popularization and international sci-tech cooperation since its establishment in 2006.

He appreciated China's remarkable achievements in economic and social development and sci-tech innovation, expressed the academy’s honor at being a founding member of ANSO and spoke highly of its progress in the past year.

He said that he will participate in the second General Assembly of ANSO in Russia in May 2020, and hoped to further strengthen cooperation with CAS.

Bai Chunli (R) shakes hands with CONICET’s acting president Miguel Laborde. [Image: Bureau of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sciences]

Bai and Omar Fehri, head of the Hassan II Academy for Science and Technology of Morocco, sign a cooperation agreement. [Image: Bureau of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sciences]

After in-depth discussions on future cooperation, they reached several consensuses, including holding an ANSO-based joint seminar on industry-university-research cooperation involving big data, supercomputing and artificial intelligence technologies in Morocco in April 2020 and developing a joint mechanism for scholarships and academic exchange visits.

Bai and Fehri then renewed the cooperation agreement.

In Argentina, Bai visited CONICET, where he had talks with its acting president Miguel Laborde.

They briefed each other on their institutions and exchanged ideas on the progress of major projects, ANSO’s construction and development, and future cooperation.

Bai focused his speech on the CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) and the ANSO background, hoping more researchers and students will choose to work and study in CAS with the help of the PIFI program.

He also invited CONICET to join ANSO and take part in ANSO affairs. Laborde said the organization would consider Bai’s invitation.

According to an agreement for a new round of cooperation signed by Bai and Laborde after their meeting, they will set up a joint scientific research center.

Tariff exemptions are expected to be granted to the center’s instruments and equipment exported to Argentina; at the same time, the two sides will establish a cooperation mechanism under the framework of the agreement to promote practical collaboration in prioritized areas such as astronomy, polar and ocean research and biomedicine.

In Argentina, Bai met with Rodev Sanchez, head of the Argentine Antarctic Institute (Spanish: Instituto Antartico Argentino), IAA, and held talks with Gustavo Ferreyra, head of the Argentina Polar and Marine Scientific Research Center, or CADIC, and Adriana Justro, vice president of the Argentine National University of Tierra del Fuego to promote scientific investigation, cooperative research and data sharing.

Bai pointed out that CAS is actively promoting the "three poles" science plan and that Antarctica is an indispensable part of the polar research.

He called on both sides to deploy their own advantages, actively carry out exchanges and cooperation and build channels and platforms through mutual visits and joint seminars  to realize mutually beneficial and win-win scientific research cooperation.

The Argentine institutions welcomed Bai’s proposal and agreed to promote exchanges and cooperation with CAS in polar areas, oceans and other fields, and to jointly enhance the cultivation of young talents.

During the tour in Morocco and Argentina, Bai also met with Chinese Ambassador to Morocco Li Li and Chinese Ambassador to Argentina Zou Xiaoli, exchanging ideas on strengthening sci-tech cooperation between CAS and the two countries.

Representatives from the Bureau of International Cooperation, Aerospace Information Research Institute, and the National Astronomical Observatories of CAS also joined the delegation.

Source: Bureau of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sciences