TCS

The 3rd Trilateral GeoSummit among the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ), China Geological Survey (CGS), and Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) was held in Sapporo, Japan, on July 30, 2019. The summit was organized by GSJ, and the heads of delegations are Dr. YANO Yusaku, Director General of GSJ, Dr. ZHANG Hongtao, Counselor of the State Council, PRC, Professor of CGS, Dr. KIM Bok Chul, President of KIGAM. Dr. LEE Young Joo, Director of Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) and Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) delegation headed by Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) Ms. HAN Mei, attended the summit as observers. 

At the summit, DSG HAN delivered a keynote remark to introduce TCS and contribution for trilateral cooperation achieved by TCS. During the remark, DSG HAN emphasized that this year commemorates the 20th anniversary of the official opening of cooperation between China, Japan and Korea and TCS has been actively performing its duties and continued to expand its contribution to foster trilateral cooperation in various ways. DSG HAN also underlined the importance of trilateral geological cooperation and TCS is ready  to provide any assistance in its capacity to promote trilateral geographical cooperation, such as utilizing TCS website to promote the trilateral geological cooperation to the general public, if there is a need from institutions of three countries. 

During the summit, the three institutions introduced each country’s current status of geological research and achievements that each institution has achieved, and all of three institutions emphasized the importance of trilateral cooperation in this area.

At the technical sessions of the summit, the experts from three institutions delivered the presentations about active fault, geographic information system (GIS), 3D geological modeling, and coastal geology. After the presentations, the experts had an active discussion and shared a common view to emphasize and further strengthen cooperation among the three institutions.

In the afternoon session, the leader’s meeting was held, and the heads of delegations from each institution had in-depth discussions on various topics for trilateral geological cooperation activities and future plan of cooperation among there institutions. At the meeting, DSG HAN made a suggestion to further enhance the cooperation, such as reporting the achievements made by trilateral geological cooperation to the higher level of each government. Three institutions appreciated the suggestion proposed by DSG HAN and agreed to have more discussion for the future plan of enhancing the trilateral geological cooperation.

Trilateral GeoSummit has been held since 2015, and TCS has been participating as an observer since 2017. The next Trilateral GeoSummit will be held in China in 2021.