On behalf of the Local Organizing Committee, I am pleased to invite you to participate in the 6th International Conference on Bone and Mineral Research & 8th International Osteoporosis Symposium to be held in Inner Mongolia, China, from July 12th to 16th, 2008.

With strenuous efforts of many years of our colleagues, osteoporosis has been listed as one of the key health problems many countries in the world want to address. It is necessary for us to acquire new information and knowledge and conduct academic exchanges and explorations. A broad spectrum of topics ranging from basic research to clinical and treatment advances will be addressed by an exciting array of world-famous experts and scientists. At this conference, you’ll have a chance to hear the newest leading-edge oral presentations selected from abstracts, poster presentations and keynote lectures. To encourage more attendees to participate in the meeting and promote the academic exchange, the Local Organizing Committee will add an abstract award for all attendees from overseas.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bordering both the Republic of Mongolia and Russia to the north, is a province-level administrative region. To most foreigners, and many Chinese, the name Mongolia brings to mind rolling grasslands, thundering horseman hordes and the destructive, tyrannical, yet near-omnipotent Genghis Khan. The vast majority of this highland province, mostly over 1,000 meters above sea level, is of relatively flat landscape, the ideal environment for the cultivation of the horsemanship and skillful cavalry tactics that were used by the Mongols to scourge most of the known world. Nowadays the region is a potential goldmine for vast quantities of minerals and oil.

I look forward to meeting you in July 2008 and we will do our best to make this conference all the more memorable.