Between July 2nd and 3rd, “Modern Research and Evaluation Methods in Environment Monitoring and Water and Land Resources Management of Central Asia’s Agricultural Landscape” International Symposium was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. This meeting, organized by Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia (RCEECA) and co-organized by Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, undertaken by RCEECA Almaty Branch, Kazakhstan Institute of Soil and Agriculture and Kazakhstan State Agricultural University, attracted nearly 100 representatives from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Germany, Russia and Japan.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Professor Kanat M. Tireuov, First Deputy President of Kazakhstan State Agricultural University and Abdulla Saparov, Vice President of Kazakhstan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Director of Institute of Soil and Agriculture, Academician Rakhimbekov, President of Kazakhstan’s National Science and Education Center for Agriculture, Academician Victor Sychev, Director of Russian Institute of Agricultural Research, Russian Academy of Sciences and Miao Hongbo, Deputy Consul-General of Chinese Embassy to Almaty, all delivered speeches to congratulate the successful opening of the meeting. Chen Xi, Vice President of Xinjiang Branch, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography and Director of RCEECA briefly introduced the layout of   RCEECA in Central Asian countries, cooperation projects currently underway and progress achieved. He especially mentioned drinking water project for rural areas of Bishkek Branch and Sarez lake disaster monitoring project of Dushanbe Branch, both of which received attention from local governments for their closeness to people’s livelihood and reported during Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summits.

During the meeting, 47 representatives delivered report and exchanged views on soil fertilizer management, soil productivity, soil nutrients, soil improvement, soil pollution, water use, soil monitoring and evaluation, geographic information drawing, climate change and ecological recovery. After the meeting, the representatives went to Aral Sea and Balkhash Lake for scientific survey.

President Espolov of Kazakhstan State Agricultural University, President Zhurinov of Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences and President Kaliev of Kazakhstan Academy of Agricultural Sciences all attended the closing ceremony. Zhang Yuanming, Deputy Director of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, who also chairs work, and Deputy Director Jilili Abuduwaili, Mi Guixiong, Consul for Science and Technology of China’s General Consulate to Almaty, Liu Wenjiang, Deputy Director of RCEECA and over 30 people from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Institute of Geographic Sciences, Institute of Water Protection, Institute of Genetics Agricultural Resources Research Center, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources and East China Normal University all attended the meeting.

On July 4^th, a group of people led by Vice President Chen Xi went to Nur-Sultan. After investing the forestation project of the capital region, they discussed the specific details of Kazakhstan National Agricultural Big Data Center with President Kurishbayev of Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University and signed cooperation agreement concerning the big data center.

Miao Hongbo, Deputy Consul-General of Chinese Consulate to Almaty, Delivers Speech

Academician Rakhimbekov delivers a speech

Vice President Chen Xi delivers a speech

Director of Soil Institute of Kazakhstan delivers a speech

First Deputy President of Kazakhstan State Agricultural University delivers a speech

Meeting scene

Meeting scene

Signing of the Joint Construction Agreement of Agricultural Big Data Center

Chen Xi inspects the project progress