Recently, Director General ZHOU Xueping met with Dr. Barbara BARRATT, the president of the International Organisation for Biological Control (IOBC) and Dr. DING Jianqing, the Vice president of IOBC. The two parties exchanged ideas on how to promote the in depth collaboration in the areas of biological control. Dr. CHEN Julian, the Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Graduate Student, hosted the meeting.

DG ZHOU expressed warm welcome to Dr. BAARATT and briefed the basic information about scientific innovation, personnel training, international collaboration and exchange, platform construction, etc., and the overview of the research teams in biological control at IPP. He emphasized the significance of biological control research and the application in China and voiced the wish to enhance collaboration and communication. DDG QIU introduced the recent major progress in international exchange and collaboration achieved at IPP, and the establishment of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (the Belt and Road) Plant Protection International Consortium, etc. Dr. BARRATT briefed the IOBC and her branch in Asia-Pacific. She said she was hopeful of collaborating with IPP through joint training of young scientists, organizing international meetings and conducting scientific communication activities in biological control. The two parties discussed preliminarily the possibilities to co-organize the first international conference of biological control.

This meeting laid foundation for mutual further communication and collaboration in biological control in future and offered a favorable opportunity for establishing larger platform for collaboration and communication between scientists in China and in the world.

The participants of the meeting include Prof. XU Xuenong, the Deputy Director of the Department of Biological Control, and Prof. JIANG Xiliang, the Department of Biological Control, Prof. WEN Liping, the Vice Executive Secretary of China Society of Plant Protection, Dr. WANG Lixia, the Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Graduate Student, and Dr. GAO Yulin, the Vice Chairman of IOBC-Asia Pacific Regional Section.