BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Institute of Aerospace Information Research has helped 10 countries install virtual ground stations, it said in a report Tuesday.

The report was released at the fourth International Symposium on Earth Observation for Arid and Semi-Arid Environments, which began in Xining, capital of China's northwestern Qinghai Province, on Monday.

The 10 countries are Mongolia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Thailand and Belgium.

The institute's self-developed virtual ground stations were equipped for receiving near-real time data from China's remote satellite ground stations.

The virtual ground stations support the satellites such as the HJ-1A, HJ-1B, Landsat-8 and Proba-V and have played an important role in ecological environment monitoring and disaster alleviation, according to the institute.

The previous three biennial symposiums were held in China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, respectively.