The 4th Meeting of the 2nd Phase of the China Council for Internatio nal Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) was held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 2000 in Beijing.42 chinese and international Council Members, 15 Workin g Group Co-Chairs, 8 specially invited guests, and 28 observers attended the me eting. The meeting was chaired by Council Chairman Wen Jiabao and Vice Chairmen Len good, Qu Geping and Xie Zhenhua respectively.

　　After the meeting, Premier Zhu Rongji met with Council Members and WG Co-Chairs. After Listening to the briefings and recommendations by 9 international Council Members, he made some important remarks. He made a high evaluation of the Counc il's work and fully affirmed the recommendations by Council Members. He expresse d his sincere hope that CCICED could continue to work hard and carry out researc h on key issues in the field of environment and development, and play a greater role in the future.

　　Vice Premier Wen Jiabao made a speech at the opening ceremony of the meeting. He fully affirmed the strong support by CCICED to the scientific decision-making o f the Chinese Government on environment and development in the past 9 years sinc e its establishment. He hoped that Council Members could pay attention to China' s Western Development Strategy, carry out targeted research on issues of ecologi cal restoration and environmental protection in the implementation of the Western Development Strategy, and make valuable recommendations in that regard. He sta ted that the Chinese Government will continue to support CCICED, and hope that t he work of CCICED could be further promoted.

　　The Meeting invited the Western Development Office of the State Council, the Min istry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Land Resources, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Water Resources, State Environmental Protection Administration, and State Forestry Bureau to give presentations on the basic p lans and measures for Western Development Strategy in their respective areas. Th e newly establishment Task Force on Forestry and Grassland Issues gave a present ation on the current status of forestry and grassland in the western regions and the implementation of the policy of converting steep arable land back to forest ry and grassland. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sichuan Province, Gansu Prov ince and Kunmin City were invited to give briefings on the progress they have ma de in the field of environment and development. The meeting had a general debate on the theme of "Great Western Development and Environmental Protection".

　　The meeting also listened to the Work Report by the Secretariat and Report on Wo rking Group Co-Chairs' Coordination Meeting, listened to and discussed the repor ts and work plans of the WG on Energy Strategies and Technologies, WG on Sustain able Agriculture, WG on pollution Control, WG on Cleaner Production, WG on Biod iversity, WG on Trade and Environment, WG on Environmental Economics, WG on Envi ronment and Transportation, and the Task Force on Environmental Protection and E conomic Planning.

　　At the meeting Chinese and international Council Members and WG Co-Chairs were enthusiastically concerned about the issues of ecological restoration and environ mental protection in the process of Great Western Development, had heated debate, proposed many valuable recommendations. Based on their discussions, and after being revised for several times, the Recommendations of CCICED to the Chinese Government on Great Western Development was adopted by the meeting. At the same time. the meeting discussed more general issues and adopted General Recommendations by CCICED to the Chines e Government.

　　It was decided at the meeting that the 5th Meeting of the 2nd Phase of CCIED will be held from September 25-27, 2001 in Beijing. The theme of the meeting will be a comprehensive review of the work by the 2nd Phase of CCICE D . The Working Groups/ Task Force were required to review and sum up their rese arch and achievement for the past 5 years and wrap up the send phase successfully.

　　The meeting announced some preliminary ideas for Phase III of CCICD.For example, the recommendations of CCICED on macroscopic decision-making should be more in- depth so as to make them more effective;the membership of the Council should mai ntain high status and be of a smaller number.

　　With the common efforts of all the participants, the meeting completed all the items on the agenda and achieved a complete success.