KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES

The 55TH CCOP Annual Session & 77TH Steering Committee Meeting

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM, Acting President Dr. Kwang-Eun Kim, Deputy Permanent Representative of Korea to CCOP) participated in the 55th CCOP Annual Session and 77th Steering Committee Meeting on November 23~25, 2021. The hosting country was Vietnam; however, the DMR in Thailand where the CCOP HQ is located led the online meeting for the smooth procedures.

The Annual Session started with the ‘Welcome Address’ by Dr. Le Quoc Hung¹ from Vietnam. The special messages were followed by Mr. Ioannis Abatzis² from Denmark, and the newly elected Chairman of CCOP Steering Committee Dr. Li Jinfa³ from China. And, there were re-confirmations/re-introductions about the changed CCOP offices by countries.

¹ Dr. Le Quoc Hung, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to CCOP, Deputy Director-General of the General Department of Geology and Minerals of Vietnam (GDGMV)

² Mr. Ioannis Abatzis, Chairperson of the CCOP Advisory Group, Representative of Denmark to CCOP, Chief Geoscientific Adviser, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS)

³ Dr. Li Jinfa³, Permanent Representative of China to CCOP, Vice-President, China Geological Survey (CGS)

Korea values the cooperative relationships with the Asian Countries as the neighboring communities, especially focusing on the Southeastern Asian Countries. KIGAM, as Korea’s unique comprehensive government-funded Geoscience R&D organization, has continued to work together with CCOP Member Countries, some were specifically targeted for the ASEAN Member Countries.

KIGAM has three ongoing CCOP related projects: (1) Solutions for Groundwater Problems in CCOP Region 2013~2022, (2) CCOP-KIGAM Geoscience Data Repository (GDR) Project 2019~2025, (3) CCOP-KIGAM Urban Geology Project: Urban Geology Technology Transfer for Sustainable Cities in East and Southeast Asia, 2021~2024.

Finally, CCOP TS announced the good news with the confirmation of Dr. Young Joo Lee’s success in serving consecutive terms as the ‘Director of CCOP Technical Secretariat’. His second term begins April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2025.