Meeting 


Prof. HU Chunhong, Secretary General and Deputy Director of IRTCES, chaired the meeting and made a speech


Dr. András Szöllösi-Nagy, Deputy Assistant Director General of UNESCO, made a speech

  IRTCES NEWS: Dr. András Szöllösi-Nagy, Deputy Assistant Director General of UNESCO, Secretary of the IHP and Director of Division of Water Sciences visited the International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES) under auspices of UNESCO in the morning of May 28, 2008, accompanied by Dr. Ramasamy Jayakumar, Programme Specialist for Science, Technology and Environment  UNESCO Office Beijing, Ms. TENG Yue, Programme Assistant, UNESCO Office Beijing, Dr. HUANG Yan and Ms. XIONG Shanshan, representatives of the Chinese National Committee for IHP. The experts, officials and staff of IRTCES welcomed the group’s visit and guidance. A discussion meeting chaired by Prof. HU Chunhong, Secretary General and Deputy Director of IRTCES, was organized. Prof. DAI Dingzhong and Prof. TAN Ying, advisors of IRTCES, Prof. WANG Zhao-Yin, Chairman of IRTCES Advisory Council, and other officials and staff participated in the meeting.

In Prof. HU Chunhong’s speech, he on behalf of IRTCES extended his warm welcomes to Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy and the group and sincerely thanks to UNESCO for its strong support to IRTCES. Since its establishment in 1984, IRTCES has conducted many bilateral and multilateral collaborative researches and trainings, under the guidance of UNESCO and Ministry of Water Resources, P. R. China, and with the support worldwide. IRTCES has implemented over 100 research projects and consulting programs, organized over 40 training courses, sponsored and co-sponsored over 90 symposia and workshops and arranged more than 130 technical visits outside of China. IRTCES serves as the Technical Secretariat of UNESCO International Sediment Initiative (ISI), Secretariat of World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER), and the permanent Secretariat of the International Symposia on River Sedimentation, and publishes the International Journal of Sediment Research and the Gazette of Chinese River Sediment, as well as manages Qian Ning Memorial Prize for Erosion and Sedimentation. Prof. Hu said, “I hope your visit will further the close cooperation between IRTCES and UNESO, so that IRTCES may make more contribution to IHP and to international sediment research and cooperation, and sustainable water resources development in the world.” In Prof. Hu’s speech, he also proposed to develop an International Networks on Erosion and Sedimentation (INES) with extensive information of science and technology.

Dr. LIU Cheng, Deputy Division Chief of IRTCES, made a PPT presentation reporting the general situation and development of IRTCES, activities undertaken within the framework of IHP, Technical Secretariat of ISI, and the establishment and development of WASER, as well as the recent two years’ plans and proposals within the framework of IHP. The goals, objectives and proposed activities of the establishment of INES were described in detail.

Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy listened the presentation carefully and made an important speech. He said his first visit to IRTCES was 18 years ago when he attended the inauguration of IRTCES’ new building, he is very glad to witness the tremendous changes happened in IRTCES. Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy highly appreciated the support to the UNESCO-IHP from the government of China and acknowledged the contributions to IHP and ISI from IRTCES. In his speech, Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy introduced four major pillars represent the current UNESCO water activities: (1) The International Hydrological Programme (IHP), (2) The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, (3) The UN World Water Assessment Programme (UN WWAP), and (4) The UNESCO water-related Category II centers. As the first established UNESCO water-related Category II center, IRTCES has been playing leading role in the field of international sediment research and making significant contributions to the IHP. The successful practices of IRTCES over two decades also set an example for other newly established Category II Centers. Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy said establishing INES is a good proposal, and he suggested the proposal be present in the upcoming UNESCO IHP Intergovernmental Council Meeting by Chinese delegation for support from other member countries.

Prof. DAI Dingzhong, Prof. TAN Ying, Prof. WANG Zhao-Yin and Dr. HUANG Yan et al. spoke in the discussion meeting.

After the discussion, Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy visited IRTCES’ meeting rooms, Qian Ning memorial room, internet server room, office rooms, guest house and library.
(LIU Cheng, IRTCES)

Gift


Qian Ning memorial room visit


Group photo