IRTCES Director, Dr. Kuang Shangfu discusses with the Deputy Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Andras Szollosi-Nagy regarding strengthening the cooperation and exchange among UNESCO affiliated Research and Training Centers

    IRTCES NEWS: On the morning of the 21st of March 2006： During the 4th World Water Forum held at the Banamex Centre of Mexico, the Director of the IRTCES and Group Leader of the Chinese Scientific and Technological Delegation for the 4th World Water Forum, Dr. Kuang Shangfu, met the Deputy Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, Mr. Andras Szollosi-Nagy; Officer of Division of Water Science of UNESCO, Mr. Toshihiro Sonoda; Chairman of UNESCO-IHE, Prof. Kuniyoshi Takeuchi; Representative of the UNESCO Iran Office, Mr. Abdin Salih; Representative of the UNESCO Switzerland Office, Mr.Manfred Spreafico; Officer of the UNESCO Beijing Office, Dr. Ramasami Jayakumar; Officer of the UNESCO New Delhi Office, Mr. Bhanu Neupane; Representative of the UNESCO-IHE, Institute for Water Education, Prof. Huub J. Gijzen; Vice President of the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Mr. Liu Heng; and Division Chief of International Exchange and Information, IRTCES, Dr. Liu Guangquan to discuss the exchange and cooperation among the UNESCO affiliated International Centers.

                                                                              Group Photo


Many UNESCO affiliated research and training centers representing different fields and disciplines are distributed in different regions and countries all over the world. In the past, these centers have played an important role and have done very significant work for promoting international exchange, technical training, and collaborative research; however, due to the difference of disciplines and regions, the centers work independently and have little exchange among them, which is not favorable to their further development.


The important management item for the UNESCO affiliated Centers promulgated by UNESCO in 2005 is to reappraise the affiliated research and training centers in the following 6 years and to decide if the centers are necessary and should receive financial support from UNESCO. Hence, the participants of the meeting proposed that the UNESCO affiliated research and training centers will conduct exchange and cooperation, organize periodical meetings, summarize achievements, and exchange experiences in the future.
 

It was tentatively decided that the first experience exchange and symposium among the research and training centers will be organized in middle August of 2006 in the IRTCES Headquarters. The meeting will be co-organized by UNESCO Beijing Office and the IRTCES. The relevant leaders of UNESCO and representatives from UNESCO Regional Offices and research and training centers will be invited to the meeting and discuss how to exchange and cooperate among the centers under the support of UNESCO, various country governments, and NGOs.