BEIJING: The Ministry of Water Resources has established a global network of partnerships that involves dozens of countries and international organizations, as it strives to promote cooperation on water resources management under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Li Ge, a leading official with the ministry’s Department of International Cooperation, Science and Technology, made the remarks in the lead-up to the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation this week.
The ministry has signed 72 bilateral cooperation agreements with 57 countries, and established 32 bilateral cooperation and exchange mechanisms, he said. It has also reached multilateral cooperation treaties with eight international organizations and relevant nations, he added.
Thanks to this progress, “a comprehensive, multilevel, multifaceted global network of partnerships in water resources management” has been formed, Li said.
He said that capacity building was an important part of the ministry’s cooperation with countries involved in the initiative.
To date, he said, the ministry has provided training programs for over 5,000 researchers, officials, enterprise executives and diplomats from BRI countries. It has also subsidized more than 200 people to study in China for master’s degrees in water resources management.
Institutions affiliated with the ministry have set up technology transfer and capacity building centers in Pakistan, Indonesia, Serbia, Ethiopia and Senegal, he said. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
