From July 29th to August 1st, the "2024 International Mongolian Sheep Forum" with the theme of "Technological Breakthrough and Empowering Mongolian Sheep with New Quality Productivity" was grandly held in Xilinhot City, Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This forum is jointly organized by our university, Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, and National Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Evaluation and Breeding Technology of Sheep Genetic Resources (Inner Mongolia). Academician Li Defa of China Agricultural University, Researcher Shi Jianzhong of the National Livestock Station, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Yu Wei, Director of the Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Technology Promotion Center of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Hu Youlin, Deputy Director of the Xilingol League Administration Sun Zhenjiang, Secretary of the Xilingol League Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau Nanding, Vice President of Northwest A&F University Luo Jun, Vice President of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University Qi Jingwei, and Vice President of our university Liu Yongbin attended the forum. The opening ceremony of the forum was presided over by Zhu Baohua, the head of the Science and Technology Department of our university.

At the meeting, Sun Zhenjiang, Vice Chairman of the Xilingol League Administration, Academician Li Defa of China Agricultural University, Yu Wei, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Autonomous Region, and Liu Yongbin, Vice President of our university, delivered speeches successively, hoping that through the holding of this forum, new development opportunities could be brought to the Mongolian sheep industry in the autonomous region and even internationally.

Liu Yongbin pointed out in his speech that the lack of excellent sheep breeds and insufficient independent scientific and technological innovation capabilities in our region have become bottlenecks restricting the breakthrough and development of this industry. It is of great significance for our excellent livestock seed industry and cultural innovation to carry out "Mongolian sheep as the core seed industry to demonstrate the scientific and technological innovation and application of seed industry engineering implemented step by step by other livestock", establish an industry research institute as the core, create a leading area for high-quality development of animal husbandry, and build a pilot area for the "the Belt and Road" seed industry opening and cooperation.

This forum is held both online and offline, with hundreds of representatives from top experts, scholars, technicians, and enterprises from China, Mongolia, and around the world attending. During the thematic presentation, the attending representatives shared international information and research achievements in sheep breed breeding, germplasm resource protection and utilization, core breeding key technologies, and the integration of grass and livestock. More than 20 experts and scholars in the field of sheep industry at home and abroad, including Researcher Shi Jianzhong from the National Livestock Station, Researcher Jinhai, Chief Scientist of the National Sheep Industry Technology System, and Researcher D. Byambasaikhan from the Mongolian Academy of Animal Sciences, gave wonderful academic reports on the forum theme.

On the forum, the sheep academic Q&A model "SheepGPT" was released, and the unveiling ceremony of the "Mongolian Sheep Industry Technology Research Institute" and the the "Sheep Digital Breeding Demonstration Base" was also held.

The successful hosting of this forum not only deepens the geographical, resource, and cultural advantages of the Mongolian sheep industry in our region, but also helps to jointly promote the internationalization process of the Mongolian sheep industry.