On October 30th, Mr. Li Liangsheng, Vice Minister of Water Resources, met with Madam Sari Essayah, Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in Beijing. Both sides conducted in-depth exchanges on upgrading China-Finland water cooperation.
Li Liangsheng introduced the historic achievements and transformations in China’s water sector under the guidance of President Xi Jinping’s water governance principles of “prioritizing water conservation, balancing spatial distribution, taking systematic approaches and promoting government-market synergy”. Since the signing of Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between water authorities of China and Finland in 2014, fruitful outcomes have been accomplished. On October 29th, Mr. Li Guoying, Minister of Water Resources, and Madam Sari Essayah signed the Sino-Finnish Water Resources Management Cooperation Implementation Plan 2024-2027. Besides, water cooperation was included in Joint Action Plan between China and Finland on Promoting the Future-oriented New-type Cooperative Partnership 2025-2029. Hence, the bilateral water cooperation enjoys enormous potentials and broad prospects. Ministry of Water Resources stands ready to work with the Finnish counterparts to upscale policy dialogues and technical exchanges, and reinforce cooperation in international water activities, so as to contribute to the development of the future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership between China and Finland.
Sari Essayah noted that the governments of both countries attach great importance to water challenges brought about by climate change. In recent years, two sides have achieved positive and pragmatic cooperation results in the field of water resources. The Finnish side is willing to continuously organize government departments, research institutes and enterprises to cooperate and exchange with the Chinese counterparts in the spheres of sustainable development and utilization of water resources, ecological protection and restoration of rivers and lakes, smart water conservancy, among others. Furthermore, she expressed willingness to support various activities under the China Europe Water Platform, in order to gear up bilateral water cooperation in the aspects of policies and regulations, cutting-edge technologies, etc.
Source: INTCE