At the Federal Chancellery, Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel and the Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Zhang Ping today signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments on combating climate change.
The Memorandum contains agreement on major issues, i.e. close cooperation in areas such as climate protection, energy, research and technology. Germany and China also agreed the establishment of a high-ranking working group under the auspices of the German Environment Ministry and the NDRC.
At the signing ceremony Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said: "I am delighted that we were able to agree close cooperation on climate protection with China in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate conference. I am sure that both governments will fully exploit the huge potential of such cooperation to their mutual benefit. Ambitious climate protection measures offer enormous economic benefits. An early orientation towards low carbon economic processes also pays off financially. I welcome that the Chinese government shares this view".
The first meeting of the climate protection working group of both governments will probably take place in June 2009 on the occasion of Federal Environment Minister Gabriel's visit to Beijing. Together with the Swedish government and GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit) the Federal Environment Ministry supports a study aimed at outlining the benefits for China arising from an early orientation towards an energy- and resource-efficient economy.