The First Session of the Second Governing Board of the IKCEST was held in Deqing County, Huzhou, Zhejiang province, on October 25, 2018.

The meeting was chaired by Chen Zuoning, Chair of the Second Governing Board of the IKCEST and Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and attended by members of the Second Governing Board including Pan Yunhe, Member of the CAE, Wu Zhiqiang, Member of the CAE, Prof. Raj Reddy, Foreign Member of the CAE, Philippe Pypaert, Programme Specialist of UNESCO Beijing Office, Prof. Otthein Herzog, Member of German Academy of Science and Engineering, Prof. Narayanaswamy Balakrishnan, Member of Indian Institute of Science, Prof. Jan Eloff at University of Pretoria in South Africa, and Zhou Jiagui, representing the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO as a Governing Board member institution. Members of the Second Advisory Committee of the IKCEST, members of the IKCEST general platform and subplatform teams and relevant personnel of the IKCEST Secretariat were in attendance.

At the meeting, the lists of members of the Second Governing Board of the IKCEST and members of the Second Advisory Committee of the IKCEST were announced, marking the official formation of the second Governing Board and Advisory Committee of the IKCEST.

The meeting heard the IKCEST 2018 work report given by the IKCEST Secretariat. The attending members of the Second Governing Board recognized the work of the IKCEST in 2018. On behalf of UNESCO, Philippe Pypaert stated that the IKCEST 2018 work report was comprehensive and substantial and expressed appreciation and thanks to the IKCEST for its progress achieved in 2018 and its strong support and positive contribution to various endeavors of UNESCO.

The meeting deliberated and adopted in principle the IKCEST Biennial Work Plan (20192020) drafted by the IKCEST Secretariat. After discussion, the Governing Board gave a number of suggestions on the plan document and the centre's future work, including actively participating in relevant UNESCO initiatives and more aligning with UNESCO's concerns such as urban hygiene, water treatment and climate change; providing data resources and knowledge services with the focus on developing countries and even the least developed countries; and actively conducting engineering cooperation and exchanges and establishing cooperative relationships with more national academies of engineering and sciences and their members.

The meeting ended with a group phototaking session.