The SINO-Australian Water Technologies Cooperation Hub

During April 2016, the Australian Water Partnership (AWP) was approached by Austrade on behalf of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO) of China, an office of the Ministry of Environment Protection of the People’s Republic of China. FECO was seeking an appropriate Australian national agency to act as a SINO-Australian Water Technologies Cooperation Hub, under a program called the Integrated, Intelligent and International Platform for Environmental Technology (3iPET). Following discussions, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between eWater Limited (on behalf of the AWP) and FECO to make joint efforts to promote Sino-Australian bilateral cooperation in water policies and technologies to protect the environment.

FECO, as the Chinese operator of 3iPET, and AWP, as its Australian hub partner, agreed to work together to formulate plans for the hub, ensure resource and staff, carry out the joint-implementation, so as to promote Sino-Australian bilateral cooperation. Areas for cooperation include in policy for the Chinese environmental industry to protect its water assets, market analysis reports on water technologies, sharing information on Chinese water protection projects and Australian remediation technologies, and in conducting various knowledge-sharing events (delegations, conferences, training and technology demonstrations).