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This end of year's highlight is certainly
the popularization of renewable energy as a result of the
recent energy crisis. Today, as this letter is published,
the National People's Congress is debating a law -that might
become effective in June 2005- that will set obligations
for the production of renewable energies. Needless to say,
this is also good news for many Western companies.But it
is also accompanied by increased focus on research in these
fields (see for example below article on fuel cell car research).
Another topic of interest is the lifting by WTO of quotas
on textile trade.
Last month, we were reporting on the study financed by
SECO on the impact of WTO on the environment and related
recommendations (see also "Le Temps", December
28). Textile was one focus industry, because of the impact
of tis water discharge. As China is currently focussing
on textile policy, the recommendations of the International
Institute for Sustainable Development and the China Council
for International Cooperation on Environment and Development
have a chance to be considered. China is introducing export
taxes on textile categories which will encourage lower
end industries(see article below) to produce more competitive
products and therefore encourage the use of better textile
machinery, typically energy-efficient and less polluting.
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This month, the newsletter n° 5 includes
a list of FP6 open research calls. Substantial FP6 funds
are available to finance joint-research between Swiss, Chinese
and European teams, in topics ranging from bio-technology
to IT, from nano-technology to environment.
This month's highlights in Science & Technology is
the very succesful Sino-Swiss Biotechnology workshop that
was held in Canton, jointly organized by ETH, the China
National Center for Biotechnology Development, and the
Science & Technology section of the Embassy of Switzerland
and sponsored by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education
& Research (SER) and the Chinese Ministry of Science
and Technology. About 60 Swiss and Chinese researchers
from all over both countries gathered to exchange ideas
and discuss cooperation. Sino-Swiss cooperation in bio-technology
is further demonstrated by an article on Novartis (see
below), one month after Roche's inauguration of its Shanghai
Research Center was reported on.
This months' highlights regarging China's environment
is the publication of the drafted Renewable Energy law,
one month ofter the draft Law on eWaste. Further important
moves by the Chinese government is its signature of the
Stockhom convention and its implementation of the Kyoto
protocol.
The China Council on International Cooperation of Environment
and Development, a high level international government
advisory body, chaired by Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan, heald
its yearly meeting with the Chinese government. This year's
advice focuses on agriculture, and one Task Force financed
by the Swiss State Secretariat of Economy (SECO) and co-led
by the International Institute for Sustainable Development,
produced a report "An Environmental Impact Assessment
of China's WTO Accession - An analysis of six sectors"
and related recommendations. The report, available with
ziwen.zhu@eda.admin.ch
and soon on
www.eda.admin.ch/beijing,
actually analysed at one shot the following sectors: Agriculture,
Aquaculture, Forestry, Energy, Automobiles and Textiles.
In a nutshell, key recommendations produced by that taskforce
are an agricultural policy that integrates environmental
and sustainability considerations, distinguishing between
labour intensive versus resource intensive production
(e.g. fruits and vegetables versus cereals), and integrating
the trade dimension. Besides, the taskforce analysed opportunities
that WTO membership creates for the Chinese government
in terms of environmental standards. As an example, "In
Europe and Japan, Euro IV or its equivalent has been applied.
The price of such cars in the world market is comparable
to the Chinese ones. Therefore, immediate enforcement
of Euro IV would not create losses to the producers and
consumers" (source: "An Environmental Impact
Assessment of China's WTO Accession - An analysis of six
sectors").
Sino-Swiss cooperation in the field of environment develops
further with 3 new projects in Sichuan province financed
by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation: the
sustainable development of Eco-tourism, the ecological
environment of Yangzi river, and the water environment
of the upper stream area of Min and Tuo Rivers. Please
download this document:
Western
Route of South to North Water Diversion Project
(pdf, 2 p., 190 kb)
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This month’s newsletter’s
key event, besides important events in R&D, some of
which in direct connection with Switzerland, is the Swiss
Confederation (SECO)- sponsored Shandong EST (Environmentally
Sound
Technologies) Center’s (SESTPC) signature of a cooperation
agreement with China Everbright Bank. The latter will
conduct the official financial assessments of the companies
selected and therefore contribute to the
EST feasibility studies driven by SESTPC.
It is clear from the press that China’s energy
crisis is helping clean energies as a future solution.
The yearly meeting of the China Council for International
Cooperation on Environment and Development - an international
group advising the central government - which started
on October 31st and which will be reported on in the next
newsletter, also confirmed the central government’s
interest on this topic.
The China Association of Machinery Industries - which
depends on the very influencial State Development and
Research Commission - is working on developing contacts
with foreign environmental industries with various objectives
related to the acquisition of technologies by China. They
are planning to publish a guidebook offering a comprehensive
presentation of foreign technologies and producers “Overview
of Foreign Environmental Protection Industry“. Information
on this publication is attached separately in the mailing.
We recommend that interested companies or associations
contact us or CUI Dejian, Deputy Head China, SOFI (Swiss
Organisation for Facilitating Investments, dejian.cui@sofi.ch)
for updated information on this project.
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