The annual bilateral consultations with China took place in Beijing on 13 September 2017 and covered the full spectrum of collaboration between China and UN Environment. The Chinese delegation was led by Guo Jing, Director General of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. UN Environment delegation was led by Dechen Tsering, Director for the Asia and the Pacific office. Executive Director Erik Solheim gave the opening speech and outlined his vision for the future collaboration with China, which was much appreciated.
The section specific to resource mobilisation covered the discussion on the status of the Trust Fund that was established by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2013 to strengthen the collaboration on capacity building, knowledge sharing and South-South cooperation, with a focus on green economy, ecosystems approach and environmental governance. Following the successful implementation of the 18 projects supported under Phase I, China has renewed its 3-year support of USD 6 million for 2016 to 2018, giving priority to the Green Belt and Road Initiative, pollution, ecosystems and biodiversity, chemicals-related multilateral environmental agreements, and the Environmental Technology Centre in Africa. With more funding for bigger projects, UN Environment aims to upscale results and achieve greater impact on the MEP-supported portfolio, which China considers as a flagship collaboration with UN Environment.
The extension of the new agreement will be formally signed by Chinese Minister for Environmental Protection Li Ganjie and UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim at the third session of the UN Environment Assembly in December 2017 to widen the reach and promote the good results of the collaboration.
