Dr. Wang Zaiqin, Vice President of CRSRI and senior visiting scholar in University of Regina of Canada from CWRC, made a special trip to Vancouver to meet with Dr. Robin Charlwood-- Chairman of the ICOLD Committee on Concrete Dams and Director and Past -Vice-President of the US Society on Dams (Formerly US Commission on Large Dams, or USOLD) on April 21, 2008. Dr. Wang and Dr. Charlwood discussed technical problems and exchanged ideas on remedial measures dealing with alkali aggregate reactions in concrete dams and concrete durability. 
   
The conference was held in Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering in University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Wang started the conference with brief introduction of the administrative functions and specific responsibilities of the CWRC; current and past major hydro projects that CWRC has been responsible for; research activities in the CRSRI; and Dr. Wang’s own research focus on alkali aggregate reaction（AAR）, concrete durability, and surface protection materials. Dr. Charlwood presented information about concrete AAR problems encountered in hydraulic dams worldwide, summarized the status of researches in the areas in the world, and discussed several case histories. He spent much time on the problems with AAR in the concrete dam of the Mactaquac Dam and engineering measures to solve the problems. Both of them exchanged ideas on future research directions and possible development methods. Dr. Charlwood is very impressed by and interested in the AAR research work and concrete durability and protection materials studies in CRSRI. Participating in the conference included Professor Sidney Mindess and Professor Donald L. Anderson from the Department in UBC, and Dr. Daniel Huang from Seattle Public Utilities, City of Seattle, USA. After the conference, Dr. Anderson organized for Dr. Wang to visit the engineering laboratory in the Department. Dr. Wang invited on behalf of President Guo Xiling of CRSRI Dr. Charlwood to visit CRSRI in near future. This conference has made the foundation for future joint researches and technical exchanges between CRSRI and international organizations.