On 27 – 28 August 2009, in Suzhou Jiangsu Province, the Lake Tai Water Pollution Treatment Project (Lake Tai Project) launched its Inception.
More than 60 participants from relevant stakeholders agencies participated in the Inception Workshop. Mr. Wei Jianguo, the former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), and now Advisor-General for the Lake Tai Project and Mr. Tom Connor, the Australian Consul General in Shanghai formally launched the project. There were also opening speeches from Mr. Zhang Xiaochong, the Director General of the NDRC International Cooperation Center, Ms. Tan Ying, the Vice Mayor of Suzhou City, Mr. Liu Mingming from MOFCOM, Mr. Gunther Mau, Manager of ACEDP and Mr. Nigel Murphy, Project Director of the Lake Tai Project. Representatives from MWR Lake Tai Basin Authority, from MEP and SFA were present as well.
At the Inception Workshop, the Australian team members gave a presentation of Australian strengths and experiences in terms of lake and eutrophication management, algae control technologies and the proposed workplan of this project. The pilot cities agencies briefed delegates on the broader context of Lake Tai, their priorities and urgent needs for support on algae bloom forecast and monitoring, waste water treatment and recycling, non-point source management and market mechanism of pollution control, etc, most of which will be covered by project activities.
The potential role of the Lake Tai Project as a platform for mutual learning and sustaining partnerships among Australian and Chinese counterparts was emphasised. The joint Australian Chinese project team also paid a two-day site visit to Huzhou City which is located in the upper reaches of Lake Tai within Zhejiang Province prior to the inception workshop on 25-26 Aug 2009 to assess the situation there, and it was subsequently agreed that Huzhou City would participate in the project so as to further strengthen integrated basin management and trans-jurisdictional coordination and cooperation. Concrete project activities will be refined during the inception phase.
The event of the Inception attracted the attention of CCTV and Suzhou Television which released the news of Lake Tai Project Inception respectively at the CCTV 1 channel at the 7:00pm News on 27 August 2009 and on the Suzhou TV News channel. Xinhua Daily reported the Lake Tai Inception as well on 7 Sep 2009. Please find following links for reference.
Please click the links to view relevant news and videos
CCTV (China Central Television) http://news.cctv.com/china/20090827/108557.shtml
Suzhou TV
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Xinhua Daily article
Aiticle Translation
Xinhua Daily 2009.09.07
Sino-Australia Jointly Piloted Project for Lake Tai Pollution - ACEDP Lake Tai Project Launched
Hosted jointly by International Cooperation Centre of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Australia AUS Cluster and supported by Suzhou Municipal Government, ACEDP Lake Tai Water Pollution Treatment Project launched at the end of August 2009. The Lake Tai Project would focus on Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) & Environmental Governance, Science-Based Lake Management and Technical Measures in Support of IRBM/Governance, which aim to provide support for the Integrated Plan on Lake Tai Basin Water Environment Governance. The 18-month Lake Tai Project will pilot at Lake Tai the Australian sound experiences and practices on water environment management and governance. The expected project outcomes will be the reliable reference for NDRC to formulate science-based regulation and guidelines on Integrated River Basin Management and will provide specifically to cities such as Suzhou along Lake Tai high efficient environment treatment technologies particularly approaches of Integrated River Basin Management.