On Sept. 13, Vice Minister Zhao Yingmin met with Daniel Calleja Crespo, the Director General of the EU Directorate-General for the Environment, in Beijing. The two sides exchanged views on China-EU environmental cooperation, the sixth phase of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), biodiversity conservation, the institutional reform on the solid waste import management, chemicals management, the third session of UN Environment Assembly, and other issues of common concern.
Zhao began the meeting by extending welcome on behalf of MEP to the delegation headed by Calleja, and then gave a brief introduction to the latest developments in China’s environmental protection front. China is making strenuous efforts to promote ecological progress, and taking the initiative to address the conflict between development and protection, he said. China has proposed to firmly establish and earnestly implement the “innovation-driven, coordinated, green, opening, and sharing-based” new development concepts, and adhere to the green, low-carbon, and circular development.
Zhao pointed out that China and EU have enjoyed long-term and friendly communications and cooperation over the past few years, that China-EU Ministerial Environmental Policy Dialogue has provided a good platform for bilateral exchanges of environmental management concepts and policies, and that the cooperation on relevant projects has been pragmatic and to the point, highlighting the close concerns of the two sides and the international environmental concerns. China stands ready to continue to work with EU and consolidate the pragmatic cooperation, advance the ecological and environmental cooperation of the two sides, make contributions to the global sustainable development, and relentlessly take the bilateral relations up to new levels.
China appreciates the idea that EU will hold a side event on circular economy policies and their role in pollution reduction, at the sidelines of the third session of the UN Environment Assembly, added Zhao. China is ready to keep communications with the EU side on the institutional reform on solid waste import management and chemicals management, and welcomes EU support and contribution to the sixth phase of CCICED.
Calleja applauded China’s environmental achievements, reiterated the willingness of EU on actively promoting bilateral environmental cooperation, and hoped to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation under the framework of CCICED, and together contribute to the global sustainable development.
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