From December 2nd to 7th, 2017, the 12th International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite System (ICG-12) was held in Kyoto, Japan.

This conference was jointly organized by Cabinet Office of Japan and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. About two hundred (200) representatives in total, including representatives of UNOOSA, global and regional suppliers of satellite navigation from China, United States, Russia, European Union and Japan, representatives from ICG Member States, like Italy and United Arab Emirates, prospective members and observers from AIN, APSCO, CGSIC, FAI, FIG, IAG, IGS, and specially-invited observers from Australia, Pakistan and the UN Regional Centres were in attendance. Mr. Weng Jingnong, Executive Director of the Centre, Mr. Jing Guifei, Dean of Bei Dou Belt & Road School, Beihang University, Ms. Xiu Chundi, GNSS expert of the Centre attended the meeting as the delegation of the Centre.

At the Session C “Information Dissemination and Capacity-building”, Mr. Weng Jingnong, Executive Director of the Centre, delivered a report on “Capacity Building and Education Cooperation under the Framework of ICG Information Centre” on behalf of the Centre. In the report, he reviewed the establishment of BeiDou International Exchange and Training Center at Beihang University and Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (China), introduced the achievements of degree programmes and gave out suggestions on information dissemination, resources sharing, faculty and student exchange, application demonstration, joint action and support seeking for cooperation. The areas included publishing GNSS textbooks, building joint lab for teaching and researching, information dissemination and sharing, faculty and student exchange, and short training programmes. He proposed to encourage development of space technology applications in developing countries by promoting the cooperation among top universities and ICG Members in information sharing.

Mr. Jing Guifei, Dean of BeiDou Belt&Road School, did a report titled “BeiDou Belt and Road School (B2ROS), Beihang University”, in which he introduced the vision and framework of the school, academic education and training, S&T cooperation and BDS localization, solid basis in Beihang University, etc. Then, in the discussion part, Mr. Jing Guifei advised that the definition of “Capability-building” of Session C should be clarified. Mr. Weng Jingnong suggested to add the topics of “Capability-building” and “Capability Index” to the list of proposals.

During the meeting, representatives of the Centre fully discussed the topics related to educational training with the other delegates, including giving books as gifts to Ms. Shafa from ICG Secretariat, having a heated discussion with representatives of European Union on sharing BeiDou resources through Navipedia (www.navipedia.net), and confirming the China-Russia training programme with Prof. Andrey Kupriyanov from Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography.

Taking advantage of this meeting, representatives of the Centre showed the leading role in many issues related to ICG and improved the influence of China’s international GNSS education and training. It also provided a strong support of pushing China as the host country of ICG-13 by pointing out the emphasis of the next year’s work plan.