Xu Hai, Scientific Counsellor at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Rome, Italy, visited the ICTP on 12 July. He was accompanied by Sun Chengyong, the Counsellor's First Secretary in Science, who received his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Parma with help from ICTP and the International Centre for Science and Technology (ICS). Meanwhile, Andrew W. Reynolds, Counsellor for Environment, Science and Technology at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy, visited the ICTP on 27 July.