DDE PROGRESS, PERFORMANCE AND ACHIEVEMENTS PRESENTED TO CCOP MEMBERS AND PARTNERS AT THE 61ST ANNUAL SESSION ON CCOP
CCOP (CCOP : Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia) is a Founding Member of DDE. It is the only intergovernmental organization that is a DDE Governing Council (GC) Member and represents the 11 ASEAN States (Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and China, Japan, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Korea. Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, UK and many other countries are CCOP partners. IUGS and some others are recognized as CCOP Cooperating Organizations.
A high-level DDE team, comprising Prof. Harvey Thorleifson, President DDE GC, Prof. Qiuming Cheng, Chair of DDE Executive Committee (EC) and his Secretary, Ms. Olivia Wangyi, Dr. Natarajan Ishwaran, Director, Mr. Juxin Shen, Head International Relations and Ms. Lingyu Li, Program Assistant of the DDE Secretariat attended the 61st Annual Meeting of CCOP in Vientiane, Laos, from 1 to 6 November 2025. Dr. Linshu Hu, Dr. Yuanyuan Wang, Dr. Weijie Yu from the Zhejiang University representing the DDE Platform, and Dr. Cai Min and Ms. Qian Zhang from the DDE Frontier Research Science Center of the China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB) were also part of the DDE team at the meeting. The CUGB Frontier Research Science Center at CUGB hosts the DDE UNESCO Chair on DDE and Mineral Resources (DDE MR); Prof. Qiuming Cheng is the Chair holder.
Prof. Thorleifson and Qiuming Cheng and Dr. Ishwaran with dignitaries of the host nation, Laos, CCOP Secretariat and CCOP Advisory Committee.
Mr. Boungnong Sidavong, Permanent Representative of Lao PDR to CCOP and Dr. Ionis Abatzis, Chair, CCOP Advisory Committee viewing displays and presentations at the DDE booth.
Prof. Qiuming Cheng with DDE Secretariat and DDE Platform Team Members
Dr. Ishwaran with Dr. Ionis Abatzis, Chair of the CCOP Advisory Committee and Dr. Ma Yongzheng, Director, CCOP Secretariat with Leaders of the Laos Delegation and DDE Secretariat and DDE Platform Team.
Dr. Ma Yongzheng, Director, CCOP Secretariat and Dr. Cai Min, Director, DDE Frontier Science Research Program of CUGB, China
Prof. Thorleifson presented an overview of DDE’s origin, achievements since it began in 2019 and thematic and operational priorities for the period 2025-2028 to CCOP Members, Partners and Cooperating Organizations in the afternoon of 4 November 2025.
Prof. Thorleifson delivering a presentation on DDE to the plenary session of the 61st annual session of CCOP on 4 November 2025
The presentation was well received by CCOP Member States recognized that there could be several areas of mutual interest between DDE and CCOP for collaboration when CCOP begins its implementation of the Strategic Plan for 2026-2030.
Profs. Thorleifson and Qiuming Cheng were keynote speakers in the thematic sessions during the morning of 5th November 2025. Prof. Throleifson delivered a keynote on “Deep-time Digital Earth: Building a dynamic model of Earth and its history” for the thematic session on “Digital Transformation and Innovation”. Prof. Cheng’s keynote on “DDE and Mineral Resources for Sustainable Development” was the lead presentation of the thematic session on “Geo-resources for Sustainable Development”. Both presentations attracted wide range of interest both during the thematic discussions as well as after the session as part of informal one-to-one conversations between the speakers and participants.
Prof. Thorleifson delivering a keynote for thematic session on “Digital Transformation and Innovation”
Prof. Quming Cheng delivering his keynote to the thematic session on “Geo-resources for Sustainable Development”
Both thematic sessions also included other DDE relevant presentations, such as that of Dr. Linshu Hu on the DDE Platform and a representative of the China Geological Survey on building a DDE country node for China. These presentations are accessible at ().
The DDE booth in the exhibition hall attracted quite a lot of attention. The distinguished delegates and speakers at the opening session of the 61st Annual Meeting visited the booth on 3rd November and learnt about DDE and potential for DDE-CCOP collaboration.
Prof. Hassina Mouri, President of IUGS, as well as several other meeting participants visited the booth and learnt about the DDE Platform and the services it provided. The booth included a video presentation on GeoGPT developed by the Zhejiang Lab, China, a DDE partner.
Prof. Qiuming Cheng, DDE EC Chair, with Prof. Hassina Mouri, President, IUGS and Dr. Wei Jun Zhao, Councilor of IUGS Executive Committee.
Profs. Thorleifson and Cheng and Dr. Ishwaran had informal conversations with Prof. Mouri and updated her on DDE preparations for presenting a report, as requested by the 81st session of the IUGS EC, to the 82nd session of IUGS-EC in Bogota, Columbia, in January 2026. They also discussed during informal dinners and other occasions during the meeting with Dr. Yongzheng Ma , Director, and Dr. Songyang Wu, Regional Expert at the CCOP Secretariat in Bangkok, Thailand, ideas on possible future collaborative initiatives, particularly from 2026 to 2028 with the aim of demonstrating results and outcomes at the 38th IGC to be convened in Calgary, Canada, in August 2028.
Dr. Ionis Abatzis, Dr. Ma Yongzheng and Prof. Harvey Thorleifson having a discussion on DDE booth display materials
DDE has submitted suggestions to the CCOP Secretariat, prior to the beginning of the CCOP 61st annual meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on 3 November, for CCOP-DDE collaboration over the next 3-year period. DDE has also indicated its interest in becoming CCOP Cooperating Organization beginning from 2026. These suggestions are expected to be discussed during 85th session of the CCOP Steering Committee scheduled for 7th November 2025 in Vientiane, Laos. DDE is awaiting information regarding the outcome of CCOP Steering Committee discussions on potential collaboration. DDE intends to attend the 86th session of the CCOP Steering Committee during the 1st week of April 2026 in Brunei Dar-es-Salam to further develop CCOP-DDE collaboration.