About 200 people from many different countries in the field of geosynthetics gathered in Beijing to focus on the theme of “New Era, Shared Future,” for the 2nd EurAsian Geosynthetics Symposium (EAGS·2019) that was held in Beijing, China on November 18-19, 2019. The conference was hosted by China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA) and the International Association Representing the Nonwovens and Related Industries (EDANA). The conference was endorsed by International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) and Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI).

The visionary of this conference series, IGS former president Daniele Cazzuffi, gave an opening speech of 45 minutes with the title of: “The Big Picture 1959-2010: Sixty Years of Successful Application of geosynthetics in Dams.” The keynote speech of the conference was given by IGS Council Member, Erol Guler. The title of his presentation was: “Innovative Solutions Using geosynthetics.” A total of 22 presentations were made during the conference, many of whom were also IGS members.

In addition, there was a small exhibition with 15 exhibitors. The IGS  also had an exhibition booth where the GeoAmericas 2020 in Rio de Janeiro, EuroGeo7 in Warsaw and the IGS TC-Soil Reinforcement & TC-Barrier Systems Workshops in Barcelona were promoted. This was a wonderful opportunity to introduce and integrate the Chinese academicians, engineers and geosynthetic manufacturers to IGS and the global geosynthetics community.

Submitted by Erol Guler, IGS Council Member.