On October 2, Prof. JIANG Zehui, Director of the ICBR and co-chair of the INBAR Board of Trustees, met with the winner of the 2019 Chinese Government Friendship Award and former board member of INBAR Professor Tilak Viegas and his wife.

The Chinese Government Friendship Award is the highest award established by the Chinese government to commend foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's modernization and development. Prof. Jiang congratulated Professor Vigas for receiving this honor and thanked him for his contributions to the promotion of Sino-European forestry science and technology cooperation, the development of INBAR and Sino-Portuguese forestry bamboo and rattan exchanges over the past 20 years.

Prof. Jiang reviewed the academic cooperation and exchanges between China and Portugal in the field of forestry bamboo and rattan in recent years and discussed with Professor Vigas on the topic of the overall cooperation between ICBR and the University of Lisbon in Portugal. The two parties agreed to carry out practical cooperation in the fields of urban forestry, flower gardening, bamboo and rattan cork composite materials, and substitute plastics with bamboo through the establishment of joint laboratories and scientific research platforms.