On June 30, Ambassador Zhao Xiyuan attended the opening ceremony of the 2026 Dragon 6 Mid-term Symposium and delivered a speech.

Jointly organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology of P.R. China (MOST) and the European Space Agency (ESA), the opening ceremony was also addressed by Zhuang Jia, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation of MOST, Rune Floberghagen, Director of the Climate Action, Sustainability and Science Department of ESA, Zhao Shufan, Deputy Director of the China Science and Technology Exchange Center, and Niall Bolger, senior official of Enterprise Ireland. Josef Aschbacher, Director General of ESA, delivered a video speech. More than 200 experts engaged in Earth observation research from China and Europe were present at the event.

Ambassador Zhao stated that the Dragon Programme serves as a vivid example of China-Europe joint efforts to tackle global challenges. He expressed the hope that the conference will serve as a new opportunity to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Ireland in the field of Earth observation.

Initiated in 2004 by MOST and ESA, the Dragon Programme is a major science and technology cooperation research initiative focusing on Earth observation.