China and the Netherlands signed four agreements Thursday in Beijing dealing with projects in the field of environment and sustainable development, marking an intensification of bilateral ties based on existing economic cooperation.

“Thanks to the efforts of the ambassador, I believe, the projects will benefit the technology transfer and industrial development between governmental organizations, enterprises and research institutes, specifically to improve the environment regionally and globally,” said Zhang Guobao, vice-minister of the State Development Planning Commission at the signing ceremony.

With a total investment of US$20 million, the four projects are energy efficiency and clean development mechanism capacity building in China, web-based solutions for industrial development, promoting fertilizer production and consumption in Chongqing Municipality and a working group on sustainable industrial development, according to Emile Kengen, environmental affair officer of the Netherlands Embassy.

“I am pleased to see this momentum in Sino-Dutch cooperation culminating in the signing of these four projects today,” outgoing Netherlands Ambassador Ate Oostra said at the ceremony. Oostra has been recognized as one of the most active ambassadors in promoting the Sino-Dutch tie.

The first event marks the commitment of the two countries to work closely together towards the reduction of global warming. The program will be the core of a long-term cooperation between the two countries and their enterprise sectors that will lead to technology transfer and joint investment targeting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in China, according to Kengen.

“The project of the fertilizer improvement in Chongqing will not only benefit us,” said Director of the Energy Section of Chongqing Economy Committee Liu Weidong. “We will promote the technology to other provinces in west China to solve the problem of fertilizer pollution to water and soil.”

Cooperation on the environment has been strengthened, Dutch commitments in China have increased more than 75 percent to US$70 million and total number of projects reaches 16, said Zhang.

The cooperation on environmental projects is only one of the areas in which Sino-Dutch cooperation has been developed strongly in recent years, Oostra told China Daily in an exclusive interview, in his final days after his four-year duty in China.

Netherlands is China’s third biggest trade partner among the European Union countries. The bilateral trade and economic cooperation has increased 78 percent in the last four years, according to figures from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Oostra said that China’s entry into the World Trade Organization will have a world-wide impact and give confidence to Dutch investors in China. “It is more than earning money. Most importantly, it is China’s commitment to the world,” he said.

Leaving China at a time when bilateral relations can be described as strong and stable, Oostra expressed his hope that his successor will continue the strategy of more co-operation with China.

(China Daily 04/27/2001)