On December 21, 2020, the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) hosted the Eighth CICA Think Tank Roundtable with the theme “Asian Regional Security Cooperation in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic: Situation and Response”. President of SIIS Prof. Chen Dongxiao, Counsellor of the Department of European-Central Asian Affairs at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China Ms. Zhang Hongjian, Deputy Executive Director of the Secretariat of CICA Ms. Chi Fang, and Secretary General of SCO Mr. Vladimir Norov delivered opening remarks at the roundtable.

The roundtable was participated by scholars from India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, and China. More than 30 representatives from the embassies and think tanks of the CICA member countries also sat in on the roundtable. The invitees had a discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic and regional non-traditional security challenge, and the role of CICA in promoting regional security cooperation in the new stage, etc.