On May 27, 2017, Dr. Awni Al-Khasawneh, Director General of UN's Regional Center for Education Technology & Space Science for Western Asia, visited National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC). Prof. Suijian Xue, Deputy Director General of NAOC, met with him and both exchanged views on potential collaborations in Astronomy and Space Science, and joint-training of PhD students between the two institutions. Dr. Awni Al-Khasawneh also serves as General Secretary of Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences (AUASS) and General Director of the Royal Jordanian Geographic Centre (RJCC). This visit helps promote the bilateral collaborations between Jordan and China under “belt and road” initiatives.

NAOC started its joint training of PhD students program with Jordan several years ago. Prof. Yongheng Zhao and Prof. Chenmin Zhang had supervised jointly a PhD student from Jodran who obtained his PhD degree from UCAS and NAOC in 2013 and is now working in Al Balqa' Applied University of Jordan. Currently, there is one more PhD candidate at NAOC who are from Jordan.