On May 17th, Minister E Jingping met with Jari Lepp？, Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in Beijing. The two sides exchanged views on water resources management, water treatment and recycling, urban flood prevention, water information system and deepening Sino-Finland pragmatic cooperation under bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation mechanism. Mr. Jarno Syrj？l？, Finland’s Ambassador to China and Ms. Jaana Husu-Kallio, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland also    attended the meeting.

　　Minister E Jingping warmly welcomed Mr. Jari Lepp？’s visit to the Ministry of Water Resources of China, and expressed high appreciation to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland and Embassy of Finland in China for their long-term cooperation and participation in Sino-Finland and Sino-EU water cooperation.

　　Minister E Jingping expressed that China has vast territory, large population and numerous river and lakes, which results in a complex and arduous task for water governance. With rapid social and economic development, the existing problems are intertwined with new challenges. Water shortage, ecological damage and environment pollution have becoming more and more prominent. China has been continuously innovating ideas and measures for water governance, adopting to both structural and non-structural measures, with focus on improvement of water management system and mechanism, application of advanced water information technology, and continuous enhancement of capability of managing water.

　　Minister E Jingping also pointed out that the Finnish government has always attached great importance to water resources management, and achieved outstanding achievements in terms of integrated water resources management, water ecology protection, urban flood control, scientific research and development. The best practice and experiences are worth learning by China. He said that both China and Finland, under multilateral and bilateral cooperation mechanisms, have carried out extensive and in-depth policy dialogues, cooperative activities and joint researches. Fruitful results have been achieved and the two countries has a broad prospect for water cooperation. Ministry of Water Resources of China is willing to join hands with the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to further enhance the level of water cooperation between the two countries.

　　Minister Jari Lepp？ expressed high appreciation for China’s achievements in water resources management, flood and drought disaster prevention and control, water environment governance and so on. He made an introduction on the situation of water treatment technology development and application, water recycling and utilization of unconventional water resources and establishment of water management information system.  He pointed out that China and Finland have obtained fruitful outcomes from cooperation, and fully agree with the proposal made by Minister E Jingping that the two countries will continue sharing of experiences and technologies, in order to further improve water resources management in the two countries.

　　Minister E jingping and Minister Jari Lepp？ also carried out detailed discussions on multilateral and bilateral cooperation for the next stage, in particular groundwater utilization and protection, as well as water ecology and environment restoration and improvement.