From January 23rd to 24th, 2021, Association for Trans-Eurasia Exchange and Silk-Road Civilization Development (ATES), which is an important member of the Alliance of International Science Organizations in the Belt and Road Region (ANSO), convened its first annual meeting. The meeting was held online and offline at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (in Beijing) and Lanzhou University (in Lanzhou). Over 100 Chinese and foreign experts and scholars participated to exchange their latest research progress and discuss the future development of the association.
Academician Chen Fahu, director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that the ATES was established in 2018, focusing on important topics of Paleolithic culture and human migrations, Neolithic civilization and agricultural dissemination, evolution of towns and routes on the Silk Road, Silk Road civilization and sci-tech exchanges, environmental changes and the development of the Silk Road civilization, etc. With joint efforts from Chinese and foreign scholars, the ATES aims at building a pragmatic international cooperation platform for researching on trans-Eurasia exchanges and Silk Road civilization, in order to provide scientific and technological support for the Belt and Road development.
Currently the alliance has 118 scientists from over 10 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. In the future, annual meetings are expected to be held once every two years.
From: www.chinanews.com (Abridged)