On February 27, 2024, Wang Chen, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), met with Lidia Brito, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences during her visit to China, conducting an in-depth exchange about cooperation on UNESCO Category 2 centres and engineering report.

Both sides positively reviewed the long-standing friendly cooperation between the CAE and UNESCO, highly recognizing the cooperation in developing the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology (IKCEST) and the International Centre for Engineering Education (ICEE), two UNESCO Category 2 centres, as well as the second UNESCO engineering report (ERII). The two parties agreed to continue partnership on UNESCO's flagship engineering reports in the future, and expand collaboration on "Open Science" and "International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development” and other fields, jointly promoting sustainable development of engineering science and technology for the benefit of humanity.

Also attending the meeting were Hu Shaofeng, Director of the Division of Science Policy and Basic Sciences of UNESCO, and Guo Wei, Director of the Division of Science and Culture, Chinese National Commission for UNESCO. Other participants included those from the CAE Department of International Cooperation, experts from IKCEST, and members of the IKCEST Secretariat.