The 10th China Europe Water Platform (CEWP) High-Level Dialogue Conference took place in Beijing, on the 21st of September 2024, back-to-back with the 3rd Asian International Water Week. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Water Resources of the People’s Republic of China (Chinese Co-Secretariat of CEWP), with the support of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Portugal (European Co-Secretariat of CEWP) and the European Commission. The meeting was led by the Vice Minister of Water Resources of China, Mr. Li Liangsheng, and moderated by Ms. Xu Jing, Deputy Director General of the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources and by Mr. Pedro Liberato, Executive European Secretary of CEWP, from the Portuguese Ministry of Environment and Energy.
After the Ministerial Dialogue with interventions by the high representatives from China, European Commission, Portugal, The Netherlands, France, Denmark and Finland, two keynote speeches were given about “Adaptation to Climate Change in Water Sector-Practice & Experience from China”, by Mr. Zhang Jianyun, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and about “Effectively Addressing Climate Change and Ensuring Water Security”, by Mrs. Dagmar Behrendt Kaljarikova from the Green Diplomacy and Multilateralism Directorate of the Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission. Looking forward, an outlook of the EU-China Cooperation on Water Project (ECCoW) was presented.
The second part of the meeting was dedicated to a technical exchange on water activities in China and in Europe. Introduced by Mr. Hao Zhao, Director General at International Economic and Technical Cooperation and Exchange Center of Ministry of Water Resources and by Mr. Richard Hardiman, Team Leader of ECCoW, the session followed with the outcomes of the collaborative ECCoW’s workshops, presented by:
- François Xavier Imbert (France), on River Basin Twinning between Europe and China;
- Frans Van de Ven (The Netherlands), on Urban-River Relationships;
- Ana Mendes (Portugal), on River Restoration;
- Lars Skov Andersen (Denmark), on Managed Aquifer Recharge.
The last part of the session addressed future innovations and emerging challenges on water, with interventions by:
- Eric Tardieu, Vice President of the World Water Council;
- LIU Junguo, President of North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power;
- SUN Yangbo, Deputy Director General of the International Cooperation Department, of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission;
- Josh Weinberg, Senior Water and Climate Policy Advisor of the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation.