IMPA and partners move forward in creating the China-Latin America Center.

At a meeting this Thursday (11) in Beijing, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave its approval to the creation of the China-Latin America Center for Mathematics (CLAMC). The support of the Brazilian government for the project, obtained by the Director-General of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, from Itamaraty (MRE), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the Ministry of Education (MEC), was decisive in this decision. In a message, the Director-General of IMPA was informed that the meeting was excellent: "the government demonstrated great interest and we are already working to implement the proposal".

The idea for CLAMC originated in a meeting between Viana and Shing-Tung Yau, a Fields Medalist and professor at Tsinghua University, which took place in Beijing last October. The project was developed with the participation of prominent Latin American mathematicians, including Ursula Molter, president of the Argentine Mathematical Union, José Seade, president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, and Carlos Kenig, former president of the International Mathematical Union, in addition to Viana and researcher Hossein Movasati, also from IMPA. Molter and Seade were responsible for securing important official support from the University of Buenos Aires, the National Autonomous University, and the Mexican government.

With an annual budget of RMB 10 million (R$ 7.7 million), CLAMC will promote the exchange of mathematics researchers and students between China and Latin American countries and will be part of the International Campus for Mathematical Research and Applications (ICMRA), which will also include centers dedicated to cooperation with Africa and South-Central Asia.

The CLAMC governance model is inspired by the ICTP-SAIFR in São Paulo, which operates as a scientific collaboration between institutions: in the case of CLAMC, initially, the University of Buenos Aires, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and IMPA. Other institutions and researchers from Latin America and China will gradually join these founders.