On September 12, the 15^th Annual Congress of Asia Association of Transfusion Medicine(AATM) was held at the Convention Centre of Corporate Hotel in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Erdenebayar N, director of Mongolian National Blood Transfusion Medical Center, Byambasuren, vice-minister of Mongolian Ministry of Health , Choudhury N, president of AATM, Ananda Gunasekera, secretary-general of AATM, and Sachi Satapathy, representative of the World Federation of Hemophilia, attended the opening ceremony. President ZHU Yongming, LIU Qingning and QI Buri from CSBT also attended the congress.

During the congress, reports on Prevention of Isoimmunization during Blood Transfusion and Blood Screening Strategies for Transfusion Transmitted Diseases in Less Developed Regions were presented respectively by Prof. ZHU Ziyan and Dr. WANG Xun on September 12 and 13.

Furthermore, Prof. ZHU and Dr. WANG hosted the morning and afternoon sessions of a one-day seminar at the Mongolian National Blood Transfusion Medical Center on September 11. During the seminar, presentations on EQAs for Blood Grouping and Serology organized by WHO and Experience on EQAs for TTI in China were given respectively by them as well.

In recent years, there has been an increasing connection and cooperation between Chinese organizations and Mongolian National Blood Transfusion Medical Center.

From 2013 to 2016, three training courses on transfusion medicine had been organized for Mongolian National Blood Transfusion Medical Center by Shanghai Blood Center.

In September 2018, the 1st Sino-Mongolian Seminar on Transfusion Medicine was held in Ulaanbaatar.

In January 2019, Alimaa Tuya, deputy director of Mongolian National Transfusion Medicine Center, visited and exchanged with CSBT.

This congress is significant to promote the development of transfusion medicine in Asia and enhance the communication and cooperation in the field of health care among countries along the Belt and Road .

(Translated by FENG Yasong; Reviewed by ZHU Shanshan, JIANG Nizhen)