Edward Clarence-Smith, Chairman Representative of UNIDO in China, and Secretary-General of the Organization Committee, speaks at the opening ceremony of the fifth World Economic and Environmental Conference. The conference lasts from Nov. 17 to 18, 2012. Its topic is Future Momentum towards Economic Prosperity: Green and Sustainable Development, and the sub-topic is Post Rio+20 Summit: Outlook. [Xinhua]

Economy and environment should be brought together towards a green ecological development mode, said participants at the fifth annual World Economic and Environmental Conference (WEC) Saturday in Beijing.

This will be a core goal for countries to jointly respond to climate change and deteriorating environmental problems, they added.

Focusing on future momentum for green and sustainable development, they also held that China’s future on implementing sustainable development will be promising.

“It is very strongly anchored in the current 5-year-plan of Chinese government to promote green economy, promote circulate economy, the recycling of goods and resources,” said Irene Giner-Reichl, Austrian ambassador to China and to Mongolia.

To cope with the current context of global recession, most of the participants said that economic recovery and environmental protection are not antagonist, rather they could go hand in hand.

“Environmental protection can lead to economic development,” pointed out Monica Oliphant, honorary president and former president of the International Solar Energy Society.

It in deed has been a big debate all around the world, agreed John Edwards, Counsellor at British Embassy in Beijing.