BEIJING, October 26 (DNA): Belt and Road Aerospace Innovation Alliance (BRAIA) 2020 Council Meeting and General Assembly was jointly held online by Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), China and National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan, Gwadar Pro reported on Monday.

According to NPU, Wang Yiran, Vice President and Secretary General of Chinese Society of Astronautics (CSA), on behalf of the co-initiator of Belt and Road Aerospace Innovation Alliance (BRAIA), Ms. Zhang Hailan, VP of NPU, on behalf of the co-initiator and Permanent Secretariat of BRAIA and Mr. Rizwan Riaz, leader of NUST, on behalf of BRAIA Regional Development Center-South Asia delivered welcome speeches respectively.

More than 130 delegates from China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Argentina, Mexico, Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria and Cameroon’s colleges and universities, enterprises, research institutions and international organizations attended the meeting.

During the meeting, BRAIA new memberships and new regional development center were announced, joint research cooperation projects were approved, and BRAIA annual work report and future work plan were presented.

To further promote substantial joint research cooperation among BRAIA members and generate more fruitful scientific research output, NPU, as BRAIA Permanent Secretariat, initiated BRAIA Joint Research Seed Fund Program this year.

5 international scientific teams consisting of 13 BRAIA member universities from China, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Argentina had applied for projects in the domain of composite materials, microsatellite and aerodynamics. These projects were approved by BRAIA Academic Committee.

Since its establishment in 2017, BRAIA has organized a series of student activities, academic exchanges and managerial meetings, which has improved the international reputation and global impact of both NPU and BRAIA members. BRAIA thus has become an important platform for multilateral international cooperation and exchange.

BRAIA is making continuous efforts on exploring better ways of strengthening international cooperation and benefiting to all members, in spite of the global impact of COVID-19.