Two Foreign Experts from XIEG Receive Tianshan Award

The Xinjiang Government held its Ceremony of the 2025 Tianshan Award of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region & Forum for Foreign Experts in Urumqi on April 28. Aierken Tuniyaz, Chairman of Xinjiang, presented certificates to two awardees from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (XIEG): Khabibullaev Bakhitjan and Saidov Abdusattor Samadovich.

Both awardees expressed their feelings at the event.

“As one of the sons of the Aral people, I feel a deep pride,” said Khabibullaev Bakhitjan, a specially appointed professor at XIEG, and the Director of the International Innovation Center of the Aral Sea Region under the National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change of the Republic of Uzbekistan. “Tianshan Mountains is one of the two mountains that directed their waters through the Amu Darya and Syr Darya into the Aral Sea. For me, this is a great symbol: to receive an award for my efforts from a people connected to Tianshan, from where the water flowed into the Aral Sea. This award strengthens my determination to work diligently further to reinforce the friendship between Uzbekistan and the People's Republic of China, advancing science, research, economy, and the social sphere.”

Saidov Abdusattor Samadovich, an academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan and the co-director of the China-Tajikistan Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use, said: “Receiving the Tianshan Award is a great honor for me, and it obliges me to contribute even more to the sustainable development of our two friendly countries. I am confident that within this joint laboratory we will actively develop bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation on biodiversity conservation, which is of global importance.”

In recent years, XIEG has leveraged its scientific strengths to attract more than one hundred high‑level foreign experts who conduct research on resources and environments in arid region. The influx has markedly raised the institute’s international research capacity, and spurred innovation in key environmental fields, turning the institute into a hub for foreign scientific talent in Xinjiang.

Up to now, foreign experts affiliated with XIEG have earned notable recognition: twenty have been honored with Xinjiang’s Tianshan Award, and five have received the Chinese Government Friendship Award.

Khabibullaev Bakhitjan receives the Tianshan Award.

Saidov Abdusattor Samadovich receives the Tianshan Award.

Group photo with other awardees and government officials.

Contact

LONG Huaping

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography

E-mail: longhp@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Web: http://english.egi.cas.cn