BAI Chunli, the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), took office as the president for the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), the first TWAS president from China since its establishment in 1983.

BAI, a well-known chemist and leading scientist in nanoscience, promises to make good use of the TWAS platform for more pragmatic cooperation between the Chinese science and technology circles and the developing world.

"More talented scientists from the developing world will be elected as TWAS fellows, among whom female scientists will account for a bigger proportion than ever; TWAS will invite more scientific institutes and scientists from developed countries, so as to help the developing world improve their capacity of scientific manpower cultivation and scientific research," said BAI on the blueprint of TWAS.

TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, is an autonomous international organization, founded in 1983 in Trieste, Italy, by a distinguished group of scientists from the South under the leadership of the late Nobel laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan. It was officially launched by the secretary-general of the United Nations in 1985. TWAS represents the best of science in developing countries. It has currently 174 TWAS fellows coming from the Chinese mainland.

BAI was elected as president of TWAS at the 23rd General Meeting last September in Tianjin, China.