The Group on Earth Observation Ministerial Summit was held at Cape Town, South Africa on November 30th, 2007, with the theme of “Earth Observations for Sustainable Development”. The Chinese delegation headed by Minister Wan Gang attended the Summit with representatives from MOST, the China National Space Administration, the China Meteorological Administration, the China Earthquake Administration, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The Minister expressed China’s willingness to participate in GEO and briefly introduced the great progress and international cooperation of China in the establishment of its integrated earth observation system. During the Summit, the Minister also met with the EU research commissioner and the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and exchanged views with them respectively on the China-EU and China-Japanese S&T cooperation. The cooperation and coordination will be helpful in building the integrated space-, air- and ground-based earth observation system. During the Summit, the China Integrated Earth Observation System (10 Year Plan) jointly compiled by a dozen of Chinese ministries and commissions under the organization of MOST, was distributed and it attracted extensive attention of the participating delegates.

At the GEO plenary before the Summit, China became the member of executive committee and co-chair country of the GEO once again and Zheng Guoguang, Director of the China Meteorological Administration succeeded himself to be the co-chairman.