China and the Netherlands signed four agreements Thursday in
Beijing dealing with projects in the field of environment and
sustainable development, marking an intensification of bilateral
ties based on existing economic cooperation.
“Thanks to the efforts of the ambassador, I believe, the projects
will benefit the technology transfer and industrial development
between governmental organizations, enterprises and research
institutes, specifically to improve the environment regionally and
globally,” said Zhang Guobao, vice-minister of the State
Development Planning Commission at the signing ceremony.
With a total investment of US$20 million, the four projects are
energy efficiency and clean development mechanism capacity building
in China, web-based solutions for industrial development, promoting
fertilizer production and consumption in Chongqing Municipality and
a working group on sustainable industrial development, according to
Emile Kengen, environmental affair officer of the Netherlands
Embassy.
“I
am pleased to see this momentum in Sino-Dutch cooperation
culminating in the signing of these four projects today,” outgoing
Netherlands Ambassador Ate Oostra said at the ceremony. Oostra has
been recognized as one of the most active ambassadors in promoting
the Sino-Dutch tie.
The first event marks the commitment of the two countries to work
closely together towards the reduction of global warming. The
program will be the core of a long-term cooperation between the two
countries and their enterprise sectors that will lead to technology
transfer and joint investment targeting the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions in China, according to Kengen.
“The project of the fertilizer improvement in Chongqing will not
only benefit us,” said Director of the Energy Section of Chongqing
Economy Committee Liu Weidong. “We will promote the technology to
other provinces in west China to solve the problem of fertilizer
pollution to water and soil.”
Cooperation on the environment has been strengthened, Dutch
commitments in China have increased more than 75 percent to US$70
million and total number of projects reaches 16, said Zhang.
The cooperation on environmental projects is only one of the areas
in which Sino-Dutch cooperation has been developed strongly in
recent years, Oostra told China Daily in an exclusive
interview, in his final days after his four-year duty in China.
Netherlands is China’s third biggest trade partner among the
European Union countries. The bilateral trade and economic
cooperation has increased 78 percent in the last four years,
according to figures from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation.
Oostra said that China’s entry into the World Trade Organization
will have a world-wide impact and give confidence to Dutch
investors in China. “It is more than earning money. Most
importantly, it is China’s commitment to the world,” he said.
Leaving China at a time when bilateral relations can be described
as strong and stable, Oostra expressed his hope that his successor
will continue the strategy of more co-operation with China.
(China Daily 04/27/2001)