The kick-off meeting of CAS Kathmandu Center was held on July 3 at ITP. The meeting was jointly organized with the Center’s 1^st administrative committee meeting and the 1^st academic committee meeting. QIU Huasheng, member of administrative committee and the deputy-director of Bureau of International Cooperation, chaired the joint meeting. XU Ruiming, member of administrative committee and the director of Bureau of Frontier Sciences and Education, awarded the letter of appointment to the Center’s administrative committee members.

In the keynote speech, Prof. YAO Tandong, director of the Center, suggested that an alliance of Belt and Road oversea research and education centers can be formed based on the existing established CAS Kathmandu Center, Central Asia Research Center for Ecology and Environmental Sciences and China-Sri Lanka research and education center. The alliance can not only act as a platform for earth sciences research, but also a think tank for the implementation of the national major strategies. Prof. LIANG Eryuan, executive director of CAS Kathmandu Center, briefed the significance and construction history of the Center and reported the recent progress and upcoming activities of the Center. Prof. ZHAO Ping, deputy director of ITP, supporting institution of the Center, reported the recent progress on the Center’s infrastructure construction. QIU Huasheng introduced the overall layout of CAS oversea centers. XIE Yong, head of International Cooperation Department of UCAS, gave an overview of foreign students and scholarships in CAS.

The following discussions were focused on how to further develop the CAS Kathmandu Center. All attendees agreed that CAS Kathmandu Center focus on the frontier sciences, and the construction of the Center is well fit the Belt and Road national strategy. The attendees also agreed that carrying out science and education cooperation with south Asian countries, such as Nepal, can serve for the development of multi- disciplinary research in CAS and capacity building in south Asian countries.

Almost 50 participants, including administrative and academic committee members, officials from Bureau of International Cooperation and staff from the supporting institution of the Center, attended the meeting.