The 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD is about to launch in Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Sept 6, 2017. Based on the principles of "innovation, thrift, openness, green", Ordos is exerting every effort to prepare for the conference. 

The city combined the notions of quality and thrift in construction of the conference hall, making use of the existing 17 meeting rooms and renovating or building 6 more. The meeting rooms are equipped with simultaneous interpretation equipment, projectors, recording devices, sound and electronic name processing systems to meet the needs of the conference.

So far, the new construction and the maintenance and upgrading of the venue have been basically completed. Network construction, equipment installation and debugging and the optimization of communication systems are almost finished, and upgrading and reconstruction of the environment outside the venue as well as its equipment and furniture arrangements have been accelerated.

The Assembly Hall will be officially taken over by the Convention Secretariat at the Ordos International Conference and Exhibition Center on the evening of Sept 3.

The city will stick to international standards and provide the guests with efficient, comfortable and considerate service. As to accommodation arrangements, the city has selected choice foreign-related hotels and to date 375 rooms have been booked by representatives from 73 countries and regions. As to catering, the hotels will serve buffet meals and offer an ordering service to satisfy the personalized needs of guests. As to traffic, Ordos has worked out detailed measures and made overall arrangements based on analysis of of civil aviation, railway and highway passenger flow.

Bidding on various types of vehicles to serve the conference has been finished. According to the requirement of the Convention Secretariat, we have engaged 203 local people to support the conference. Ordos has finished the foreign affairs training of the first group of employees, and foreign affairs training for the volunteers is underway. More than 1,200 language volunteers are getting concentrated training to act as conference receptionists, guides, interpreters and assistants.

As to food security, the city has set up a central food warehouse to ensure the principle of "safety, reliable, green". The ingredients to be served at the relevant hotels will be uniformly purchased, tested, processed, stored and distributed. The reconstruction project of the food warehouse and the preparation of its facilities have been completed. Ordos has recruited 40 food suppliers and tested their 361 batches of food, all of which have passed.

As to medical and health-care, the city has made 14 arrangement plans for the conference and assigned clear tasks to specific locations. 200 medical and health-care personnel, 20 ambulances and a mobile hospital will be dispatched to guarantee a smooth conference in regards to all health issues.