On June 11, 2021, Prof. Yang Min, Deputy Director of Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), led a 7-member delegation to visit the Sri Lankan Embassy to China and participate the donation ceremony of the book entitled The Geography and Remote Sensing Analysis of Sri Lanka. Mr. Jiang Yiqi, Deputy Director of Division of Asian and African Affairs, International Cooperation Bureau of CAS, Prof. Wei Yuansong and Dr. Liu Juan from RCEES, and Chen Mingmei, Deputy Director of International Cooperation Department of Aerospace Information Research Institute joined the delegate group.

At the ceremony, Prof. Wei Yuansong firstly introduced the progress surrounding the construction and functioning of JRDC in 2021. The construction of the comprehensive research building of JRDC has been completed and handed over to the Sri Lanka side. JRDC was also selected recently by the Ministry of Finance and Planning of Sri Lanka as one of the two best projects in the 37 major wading projects in Sri Lanka. A quantitative real-time PCR is provided to the government for virus screening in Sri Lanka; Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, all research work of the JRDC project is still progressing in an orderly manner. Particularly the team has made a great breakthrough on cause-tracing study on CKDu; The cabinet of Sri Lanka has finished the review of the Triparty Cooperation Agreement on JRDC, and given some conclusions. 

Then, Prof. Yang Min and Mr. Jiang Yiqi raised their concerns over some misunderstandings on the role of CAS in JRDC from Sri Lanka side. They figured out that it is vital for the senior officials from CAS to join the Board of Management of JRDC for the functioning of JRDC and further cooperation. The Ambassador Dr.Palita Kohona answered that he fully understood the situation and the concerns of CAS, and he will communicate with related institutions in Sri Lanka to make JRDC a great success. 

At the end of the meeting, Deputy Director Prof. Yang Min donated 30 copies of The Geography and Remote Sensing Analysis of Sri Lanka (English version) to the Ambassador. The book was edited by the Aerospace Information Research Institute, CAS, a core member of JRDC, and was officially published in 2021. Using remote sensing images as the main data source, this is the first book to systematically and comprehensively reveal the evolution of ecological environment changes in Sri Lanka over the past 30 years. It will be helpful for Sri Lanka government to make national development and environmental protection plans. Dr. Palita Kohona showed high solicitude for the publication of the book. He said that he will present them to government departments and university libraries in Sri Lanka.

International Cooperation Office, RCEES, CAS

China-Sri Lanka Joint Research and Demonstration Center for Water Technology

June 11, 2021