The Danish Minister of the Environment visits SDC

On 23 September the Danish Minister of the Environment, Ida Auken, visited the new MSc programme, Water and Environment, at SDC

The minister was greeted at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences' Olympic Village Campus in Beijing.

One of the most important aspects of Ida Auken's visit was to establish a partnership in the area of water technology between Denmark and China. The minister was introduced to the new programme in Water & Environment by Professor Peter Engelund Holm from the University of Copenhagen. Afterwards, the minister met the students face to face and observed their lectures and research.

Ida Auken was very interested in the students work and the minister and the students discussed global challenges facing water resources in China and in the rest of the world. The minister and students also discussed zooplankton and if they, as an indicator organism, should be a part of the water policy directive in EU.

Before visiting Sino-Danish Center, Auken participated in the China Europe Water Platform High Level Event. During the High Level Event Minister Auken and the Chinese Minister for Water Resources, Mr. Chen Lei had a Policy Dialogue session and a signing ceremony of the CEWP 2012-2015 work programme.

"Denmark takes China's challenges to ensure clean drinking water very seriously. We know that Europe and Denmark have the solutions that China needs. We can create a sustainable development together which benefits the Chinese and European people. That´s why the opening of China-Europe Water Platform is an important step," said Auken to the Danish Embassy in Beijing.