On March 5, 2024, Mohd Basyaruddin Abdul Rahman, Chair of the Governing Board of the International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Cooperation under the auspices of UNESCO (ISTIC), joined ISTIC Director Tengku Sharizad Tengku Dahlan and former director Sharifah Maimunah Syed Zin on a visit to the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology also under the auspices of UNESCO (IKCEST), supported by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).

IKCEST signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with ISTIC in May 2017. The two UNESCO Category II centres have carried out joint training sessions on the application of Big Data technology under the framework of the memorandum, effectively contributing to capacity building in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Central America. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed their friendly cooperation in the past, introduced their latest developments, discussed matters related to the planned training in China this year, and reached a consensus on continuing cooperation in various fields such as open science.

Participants in the meeting also included those from the Department of International Cooperation of the CAE and the Secretariat of IKCEST.