On the morning of April 24, 2015, a delegation led by First Vice President of the Thai Legislative Assembly SurachaiLiengboonlertchai visited RADI, host institution of IRDR.

Deputy Director of RADI Liu Jianbo made an introduction to the two sides’ existing cooperative programs and the potential fields they may give cooperation in the future. Liu Jie, Director of the International Cooperation Department, gave the visitors an overview of RADI’s basic situation of scientific research and its international cooperation programs. Researcher Wu Bingfang introduced CropWatch, a remote sensing-based global crop monitoring system independently developed by his team, in terms of crop monitoring worldwide, crop growth observation, output estimate, and direction of future development.

The focus of their discussions was on the applications of Earth Observation technologies in crop monitoring, the cooperative mechanism in satellite data receiving and sharing, and the cooperation programs between RADI and GISTDA (Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency). SurachaiLiengboonlertchai voiced his hope that the two sides can further strengthen their collaboration and exchanges in science and technology under the existing cooperation framework and in the meantime beef up efforts to give cooperation in more fields. In addition, he also invited RADI to visit Thailand so that they could boost their partnership in the relevant areas.

The delegation also visited IRDR International Programme Office wherein background of the IPO projects on AIRDR Assessment of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (AIRDR), Disaster Loss Data (DATA), Forensic Investigations of Disasters (FORIN) and Risk Interpretation and Action (RIA) were presented.

At the invitation of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, the delegation of the Thai Legislative Assembly paid a visit to RADI for inspecting China’s advanced technologies including remote sensing technology and their applications in agriculture, energy and other fields.