On 28 August, the CERC-FABI Tree Protection Programme members (CFTPP) team, including FABI Director Prof. Bernard Slippers, Prof. Mike Wingfield, Dr Tuan Duong, Dr ShuaiFei Chen, Dr FeiFei Liu, Ms JieQiong Li, Mr GuoQing Li and Mr QianLi Liu visited the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria. The team held a meeting with Mr LiHong Hou (Counsellor for Scientific and Technological Affairs), Dr Yu Pang and Mr Dun Liu in the Embassy. The CFTPP Team and the Embassy staff discussed the process towards the establishment of the China-South Africa Forestry Joint Research Centre (CSFJRC). This follows the earlier signing of a MoU underpinning the CSFJRC by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Department of Science and Technology of South Africa in September 2018. The expectation is now that the CSFJRC will be formally initiated during the first half of 2020 and that this will mark a major expansion of the already well-established CFTPP, which links the University of Pretoria formally with the Chinese Academy of Forestry.