First conference of Sino-Pak joint lab on smart disaster prevention held in China

BEIJING, May 2 (APP): The first academic committee conference of the China-Pakistan Belt and Road joint laboratory on smart disaster prevention of major infrastructures was successfully held in Nanjing, China.

The purpose of this academic exchange conference was to promote the spirit of modern times, showcase the important research progress and academic achievements of technological innovation talents in the fields of civil engineering, architecture, water conservancy, and transportation,Counselor of Science and Technology at the Embassy of Pakistan in China, Khan Muhammad Wazir told APP here on Tuesday.

He said that the conference will strengthen academic exchange of leading talents, promote the collision of ideas, disciplinary development, and talent cultivation of innovative talents in the field of civil engineering, water transportation and serve the national technological innovation and high-quality economic development.

On behalf of Southeast University, Executive Vice President Prof. Gang Wu warmly welcomed the arrival of all experts and expressed sincere gratitude to the academic committee members for their long-term support and assistance to the school and joint laboratory.

He pointed out that “the Belt and Road” joint laboratory is the highest-level platform for national scientific and technological cooperation and innovation with foreign countries.

Southeast University attached great importance to the first academic committee meeting of the laboratory, and the university will continue to fully support the construction of the joint laboratory in the future.

On behalf of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China, Rong-Fang Wang, the first level inspector, stated that in recent years, China and Pakistan have supported each other and moved forward in the face of global changes and chaos, and have a strong friendship.

The all-weather strategic partnership between China and Pakistan is constantly deepening, and scientific and technological innovation cooperation is an important component of the bilateral relationship between China and Pakistan.

The joint laboratory carefully planned, deployed and constructed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, China has become the highlight and focus of the “the Belt and Road” innovation action plan, based on the principles of co-construction and sharing, demand orientation, capacity building and demonstration leadership, and the goal of supporting the high-quality development of the “the Belt and Road”.

The China-Pakistan Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Smart Disaster Prevention of Major Infrastructures is the only joint laboratory of civil engineering discipline among three batches of 53 “the Belt and Road” joint laboratories.

The fruitful sharing, discussion and exchange at this academic committee meeting will certainly promote the construction and development of the joint laboratory and promote the in-depth cooperation between China and the Belt and Road countries such as Pakistan in the field of intelligent disaster prevention.

She hoped that the joint laboratory can leverage the advantages of both sides, strengthen innovation capacity building, and promote cooperation in the field of smart disaster prevention between the two countries to a new level.

The joint laboratory can become a seed of China Pakistan’s scientific and technological cooperation, continuously harvest practical results, and contribute to the high-quality development of China-Pakistan bilateral relations.
Counselor Khan Muhammad stated that Pakistan and China are very good friends, close friends, and strategic partners, and China Pakistan friendship is rooted in the hearts of the two peoples.

Since 1976, the two countries have carried out very in-depth scientific and technological cooperation. After the launch of the “the Belt and Road” strategic initiative, the cooperation between China and Pakistan’s universities has become closer.

He said, the Pakistani Embassy in China will further promote more Pakistani universities to join the China-Pakistan Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Smart Disaster Prevention of Major Infrastructures to further deepen cooperation.

“We hope that the joint laboratory can make more contributions to joint researches between China and Pakistan, the promotion and application of smart disaster prevention technologies in major infrastructure, and the joint training of high-end talents,” he added.

Prof Zhao-Dong Xu, Director of the Joint Laboratory, reported on the laboratory’s overview, composition and characteristics, research direction and positioning, construction goals, achievements already made, and future work plans.

In the expert advice phase, Academician Wei Huang pointed out that in the process of providing assistance to countries with weak infrastructure construction capacity along the “the Belt and Road”, the Joint Laboratory should also learn from their partners, carry out relevant international engineering construction, and help the “the Belt and Road” countries to achieve cooperation beneficial to both sides.

The joint laboratory is of great significance for the cooperation between China and Pakistan, which is conducive to improving the scientific research level of both sides and enhancing their level of intelligent disaster prevention and reduction.

As a high-end cooperation platform, the Joint Laboratory should not be limited to the field of civil engineering, but should also further seek cross integration in more fields, committed to continuously improving its ability to solve practical problems.

Academicians Chang-Wen Miao and Yan-Liang Du suggested that the basic national conditions of the countries along the “the Belt and Road” are different, and the specific problems faced by infrastructure construction are different.

The Joint Laboratory should fully consider the actual situation of countries, and carry out targeted research on key and difficult problems encountered in Infrastructure construction and disaster prevention and mitigation of countries along the “the Belt and Road”, which is more conducive to the implementation of scientific research achievements.

At the same time, the Joint Laboratory should also increase radiation efforts and deepen cooperation with countries and regions along the “the Belt and Road”.

Academician Zheng-Qing Chen suggests that the joint laboratory can collaborate with relevant universities in Pakistan, as well as engineering enterprises such as China Railway and China Construction Corporation, to transplant and apply the smart disaster prevention technology of the joint laboratory to specific engineering projects in Pakistan.

At the same time, it has jointly carried out talent training with Pakistan and other countries to provide practical internship opportunities for Pakistan and other international students, so as to promote the promotion and application of advanced technologies of the Joint Laboratory in the “the Belt and Road” countries.

Academicians Jian Xu and Xiu-Li Du affirmed the relevant scientific research achievements of the Joint Laboratory. At the same time, they suggested that the joint laboratory’s disaster mitigation and prevention technology should not be simply “copied” to the Belt and Road countries such as Pakistan.

After innovation and transformation according to the local specific environment, geological characteristics, etc., the relevant technology should be better adapted to the local and serve the Belt and Road countries such as Pakistan.

Academician Billie F. Spencer highly affirmed the significance of the Joint Laboratory in international cooperation, and hoped that the Joint Laboratory could play a greater role and achieve better results in infrastructure construction and intelligent disaster prevention in the Belt and Road countries such as Pakistan.

Yang-Wei Zhao, the second level inspector, pointed out that the Joint Laboratory should strengthen connectivity with the “the Belt and Road” countries, promote people to people connections, broaden research directions, focus on differences and targeted promotion and application, and at the same time strengthen support for young talent interaction, exchange and scientific and technological cooperation, promote high-quality sustainable development between China and the “the Belt and Road” countries, deepen China’s influence, and benefit the people’s livelihood of countries along the “the Belt and Road”.

Dean Tong Guo, Deputy Director Sang Luo, and Researcher Xuan-Ya Liu respectively stated that the School of Civil Engineering of Southeast University, the Research Institute of Southeast University, and the Tianjin Fire Science and Technology Research Institute of MEM will fully cooperate and support the construction and development of the joint laboratory.

After discussion among all members of the Academic Committee on-site, the resolution of the first Academic Committee Conference of the Joint Laboratory was passed at this meeting. Finally, Professor Zhao-Dong Xu, the director of the Joint Laboratory, expressed his sincere gratitude to the experts and leaders present at the meeting, and said that he would listen carefully to the suggestions of the experts and leaders present at the meeting, earnestly implement them, and strive to build the Joint Laboratory into a model of cooperation and exchanges between China and the “the Belt and Road” countries.

Special guests of the conference included Wei Huang of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, director of the Joint Laboratory Academic Committee, Chang-Wen Miao of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, deputy director of the Joint Laboratory academic Committee,Yan-Liang Du of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, members of the Academic Committee of the Joint Laboratory, academician Zheng-Qing Chen, academician Jian Xu, academician Xiu-Li Du, academician Billie F. Spencer (foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, academician of the Polish Academy of Sciences).

Other special guests included Khan Muhammad Wazir, Counselor of Science and Technology at the Embassy of Pakistan in China, Ms. Rong-Fang Wang, First Level Inspector of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China,Yang-Wei Zhao, Second Level Inspector of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology, Prof Gang Wu, Executive Vice President of Southeast University, Prof Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, Vice Chancellor of NED University of Engineering and Technology in Pakistan, and Prof Sohrab Khan Bizanjo, Vice Chancellor of Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology Khuzdar, Prof Abdul Rehman Khan, Vice Chancellor of Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Prof Abid Ali Shah, Pakistani Director of the Joint Laboratory,Prof Tong Guo, Dean of the School of Civil Engineering of Southeast University, Prof Sang Luo, Deputy Director of the Research Institute of Southeast University, Prof Zhao-Dong Xu, Director of the Joint Laboratory, Prof Zhong-Fan Chen, Executive Deputy Director of the Joint Laboratory, Prof De-Zhi Li,Deputy Director of the Joint Laboratory, Researcher Xuan-Ya Liu, Deputy Director of the Joint Laboratory, Professor Hai-Jun Zhou, Deputy Director of the Joint Laboratory, Researcher Jian-Guo Chen,the Public Safety Research Institute of Tsinghua University, a joint laboratory co-construction organization, and others attended the meeting.

The academic committee meeting was chaired by Prof Zhao-Dong Xu, Director of the Joint Laboratory.