The 8th Governing Board meeting of the Alliance of National and International Science Organizations for the Belt and Road Regions (ANSO) was held in China, which was organized by ANSO Secretariat. The Executive Director of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS), Ambassador Dr. Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, and other 8 members of the Governing Board participated on 3rd June 2024.

ANSO is an international scientific organization, dedicated to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and achievement of the UN SDGs. COMSATS, a 27-member intergovernmental organization, endeavoring to promote South-South cooperation in science, technology and innovation, joined ANSO as a member in 2019. COMSATS was subsequently elected as a member of ANSO Governing Board in November 2023.

The Governing Board reviewed ANSO Progress Report and Plan for 2024, Regulations on the Administration of ANSO Secretariat, and Proposal for holding the next Governing Board Meeting in Thailand. Moreover, appointment of Prof. Weidong Liu, Director General of International Cooperation Bureau of Chinese Academy of Sciences, as the new Executive Director of ANSO Secretariat, was announced during the meeting, who was warmly welcomed by Governing Board members.

Participating online in the meeting, Ambassador Zakaria congratulated the new ANSO Secretariat Executive Director, and underlined that commonality of objectives, common 24 member countries and 3 Centres of Excellence, provide fertile ground to complement each other. To that end, he urged focus on emerging technologies for employability of youth and facilitating economic growth. Ambassador Zakaria proposed cooperation between COMSATS and ANSO for organizing training programmes for youth of COMSATS & BRI member countries, in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Chip Circuit Designing, Precision Agriculture (Urban Area Soilless Vertical Farming), Tech-enabled Health Clinics, Bioinformatics and applications, Renewable Energy, and Electric Vehicles. The Executive Director called for adequate utilization of international forums such as COMSATS and ANSO for developing technology based solutions to address global socio-economic challenges for achieving sustainable development.