The 3rd ANSO Governing Board (GB) Meeting was successfully held on 9th November 2020 and reached a number of decisions and consensus. Due to the pandemic worldwide, it is impossible to hold the General Assembly of the organization this year, which is to decide all the major issues relating to the ANSO’s continuous operation according to the ANSO Statutes. Given the situation, the ANSO GB decided to hold this meeting so as to make decisions and move the organization forward. Representatives from the 9 GB member organizations took part in the online meeting.

Prof. Chunli Bai, the President of ANSO and CAS, started the meeting by extending a warm welcome and offering a briefing on the main achievements of ANSO in the past year. He expressed his sincere thanks to all the ANSO members for the solidarity and support given to each other in the joint fight against the pandemic and acknowledged the contributions that ANSO has made in battling the virus together with friends. Prof. Jinghua Cao, the Executive Director of the ANSO Secretariat, gave a brief but comprehensive introduction of the ANSO’s works on the organization build-up, collaborative research, capacity building, strategic advisory and technology transfer, especially the big effort made by ANSO in the joint combating of the pandemic.

Prof. Qasim Jan, a Vice-President of ANSO, made several proposals to consolidate ANSO for better development such as amendment suggestions to the ANSO Statutes. Prof. Alexander Sergeev, the other Vice-President of ANSO, proposed to host the postponed ANSO General Assembly next year in Moscow. He suggested to adjust the priority list of the GA such as putting global health at the top of the agenda. He also suggested that a series of online workshops relating to the GA be organized and carried out before the proposed date of the GA.

At the meeting, the Governing Board endorsed a number of proposals made by the Secretariat including the ANSO new member applications and the initiation of the ANSO science ambassador program. It also reached consensus on the proposed amendments to the ANSO Statutes. Given the circumstances, the Governing Board made the decision to postpone the 2nd General Assembly to be held in Moscow in 2021 and to extend the current GB composition and function until next GA to ensure smooth operation and transition.

The meeting concluded by emphasizing that ANSO should keep focusing on the common challenges facing the humanity and develop more interface with other international organizations. ANSO will continue its efforts in the global fight against the pandemic.