Water is a critical natural resource for people, for food and for energy. Sustainable water management is a key to safeguard sufficient and clean water for different uses. Ongoing collaboration on water management is of great significance to both China and Europe to prevent future global water crises.
As stated by the Joint statement, with the support of the EU Water Initiative (EUWI) and based on reciprocity and mutual benefit, CEWP was established to achieve the objectives of realising good governance in managing water resources and enhancing mutual understanding on approaches in integrated water resources policy development and implementation.
As a main vehicle for this Policy Dialogue between European Member States and the Ministry of Water Resources, this Platform organizes, on an annual basis, a High-Level Dialogue Conference, with the participation of the Ministers or their representatives to exchange views on the main priorities of water resources policies in China and in Europe.
On the 12th Joint Steering Committee, that occurred in May 2020, by virtual means, CEWP endorsed a Policy Dialogue Process, with the aim of profiting from the several projects outputs and Policy Reports, to design a process conducting to scaling up the conclusions agreed at this partnership level, to Policy Guidance’s and Recommendations endorsed by the Joint Steering Committee.
The picture below depicts the three levels working on policy recommendations. It also illustrates the process of abstraction and integration of policy recommendations:
China-Europe Water Platform - Ministerial Dialogues
Since the CEWP was introduced, eight annual high-level Dialogue Conferences have been held respectively in Zhengzhou, Budapest, Beijing, Copenhagen, Turku, Beijing, Guimarães and the last one, virtually.
Independently of the political discussions on the renovating priorities of water resources policies on China and Europe, but also worldwide, and the establishing of the political orientations for the CEWP Program of Work, these High-Level Dialogue Conferences have always a segment to profitable exchange of points of view, from both regions expertise, on specific thematic technological developments and on innovative solutions implemented.
You can find below the Ministerial Declarations signed during these meetings:
- Ministerial Declaration of the 4th High Level Dialogue Conference, Copenhagen, 2015;
- Ministerial Declaration of the 5th High Level Dialogue Conference, Turku, 2017;
- Ministerial Declaration of the 7th High Level Dialogue Conference, Guimarães, 2019;
- Ministerial Declaration of the 8th High Level Dialogue Conference, Virtual, 2021
- Ministerial Declaration of the 9th High Level Dialogue Conference, New York, 2023
