Professor J. R. Choudhury attended the first working group meeting of IAP (Inter-Academy Panel) initiative of "Natural Disaster Mitigation" organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, at Simatai, the foot of the Great Wall, Beijing, June 4-5, 2005. The working group discussed the draft document "GLOBAL NATURAL DISASTER AND DISASTER REDUCTION" prepared by CAS. Representatives from Academies of Sciences of Bangladesh, India, Japan, Nigeria and Sweden attended the Meeting. The IAP Working Group includes representatives from Academies of Sciences from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Sweden, UK and USA.