June 12 to 16, 2016, a Cambodian delegation of senior officials from Ministry of Environment (MoE), led by H.E. Mr. SokKeang, Minister advisor of MoE, visited Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), to promote the bilateral cooperation in the field of eco-environmental protection. The delegation members also include H.E. Mr. NETH Pheaktra, Minister Assistant of MoE, and Deputy Directors from Departments of Water Quality Management, Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Information and Extension, MoE. 

On June 13, the first ‘2016 China-Cambodia Workshop on Water and Environmental Cooperation’ was successfully held in RCEES. The workshop included subject presentation, enterprise session, round table discussion, and water plant visit, etc. Prof. Yang Min, Deputy Director of RCEES, and H.E. Mr. SokKeang, Minister Advisor of MoE coordinated the workshop. Affiliated institutions of Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), China, including Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP), China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Center, and Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO), Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES), China National Environmental Monitoring Centre (CNEMC), and 10 more environmental companies were invited to participate in the workshop. Experts and delegates from Chinese institutions respectively gave the introduction of research areas and the cooperative prospects with Cambodia based on the South-South cooperation. Cambodian delegation presented the overall situation and the main environmental challenge and problems in Cambodia, and expressed the cooperation demands. Mr. SokKeang hoped that Chinese government could pay more attention on Cambodia, and also welcomed Chinese enterprise invested on environmental protection since there is a huge market in Cambodia and now is a chance. 

On June 16, a round table discussionwas hosted by Prof. Yang Min between Cambodia Delegation and RCEES, together with CAEP, CRAES, and relative institutions. Both sides summarized the achievement of the visiting and a memorandum was signed in the end to focus the target priority on the human resource training and education, research capacity building, Mekong River water monitoring, ecological zone protection and environmental pollution control planning. The action plan was made out, and the 2nd China-Cambodia workshop on water and environmental cooperation is to be held at Phnom Penh around Oct. or Nov. 2016.  

During the visiting, the delegation also had an investigation on the Industrial and Urban Water Treatment facilities in China, paid a technical visit to PepsiCo and North River Sewage Treatment Plant, with the technology supported by Beijing Green Nation Environmental Protection Engineering and Beijing Drainage Group. 

This visit of the Cambodian Ministry of Environment is an action to follow up the visit of Prof. Bai Chunli, president of Chinese Academy of Sciences, to Cambodia in March, 2016. The fruitful outcomes of this visiting made a great progress on the cooperation in water and environment between China and Cambodia. 

CAS-TWAS Center of Excellence for Water and Environment 

June 20,  2016