In the afternoon of June 19, Wang Weiguang, president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and secretary of the leading party group of CASS, met with Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of UN at the International Hotel in Beijing.

As a think-tank for the Communist Party of China and the central government as well as the top organization in philosophy and social science studies in China, CASS is willing to establish friendly relations with both UN and the nations in the world through academic exchanges, and make contributions to realization of the “Chinese Dream,” said Wang.

The issues such as sustainable development, urbanization and climate changes are what CASS focuses on in its studies, said Wang. The Institute of Urban and Environmental Studies under CASS are writing “China’s human development report (2013)” in cooperation with UNDP China. Wang expressed the Chinese side is willing to further strengthen the cooperation and academic exchanges with UN in relevant fields, and work together with all friendly countries around the world to achieve common development and progress of mankind.

As urbanization is now intensifying and such problems as climate change become increasingly prominent, Ban Ki-Moon said, China is facing enormous challenges. UN highly appreciates what CASS has been doing for the achievement of the goal of sustainable development. He hopes that China will play a bigger role in speeding up global climate negotiations. He expects more exchanges between Chinese academic circles and UN, and calls for joint efforts to make more progress in realization of UN’s new millennium development goals and more contributions to human civilization and our common home.

Translated by Yu Hui, Du Mei and Chen Meina

　　Revised by Gabriele Corsetti