The 2017 Annual Meeting of Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) was held in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, from Oct 29 to Nov 1.

Zhang Li, vice president of Yunnan University, witnessed the signing of Yunnan University's membership of the HUC.

More than 70 presidents and heads of universities and research institutes from China, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Afghanistan attended the meeting. During the meeting they discussed on how to promote higher education researches and regional cooperation on mountain sustainable development.

The meeting organized four forums featuring improving living standards through sustainable utilization of mountain resources, hydrologic system big data, poverty relief and development of mountain resources.

He Daming, researcher of Institute of International Rivers and Eco-security, Yunnan University, noted the importance of international researches on river resources.

He said that advanced technologies should be applied on cross-border river researches across Himalayan regions. The HUC is also a platform for universities and institutes to carry out cross-border cooperation and rational development and utilization of cross-border water resources.

Founded in 2007, the HUC is a membership network for education and research for sustainable mountain development of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. Up to 2007, it has 47 official member units, including 15 universities from different countries.