The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts hosted an Australia – China High Level Water Policy meeting on 27-28 October 2009. The Chinese delegation then visited a number of sites of interest in the Murray-Darling Basin.
China and Australia face many issues of mutual interest in water resource management, and the meeting provided an opportunity to compare policy approaches.
The meeting involved senior representatives from Australian and Chinese government agencies and promoted high level water policy linkages and information exchange between Australia and China.
Parliamentary Secretary for Water, Dr Mike Kelly AM, MP, met the Chinese delegation, led by Vice Minister Hu Siyi of the Ministry of Water Resources, on 28 October at Parliament House. “I hope that these important talks between our Ministries continue and we continue to build on our strong relationship,” he said.
The meeting was funded through the AusAID Australia – China Environment Development Partnership.