Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region officially kicked off preparation for the 9th NEAR General Assembly 2012 scheduled for July by visiting foreign embassies and organizations in China. Recently, Assistant Director Zhou Xikang of the Ningxia Foreign Affairs Office visited the Korean, Japanese, North Korean, Mongolian and Russian Embassies as well as the Beijing Office of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, a joint network of Japanese local authorities, to ask for support and cooperation for more regions in respective countries to participate in the General Assembly. The 9th Chair Region and the NEAR Secretariat plan to further step up communication efforts to bring the conference into success.