On October 18, the signing ceremony of instrument donation for the China-Cambodia Environmental Joint Laboratory was held at the Cambodian Embassy in China. At the invitation of Cambodian Ambassador to China H. E. KHEK M CAIMEALY, Yang Min, Deputy Director of the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Li Yonghong, Deputy Director of the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center (FECO) of Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), Tang Yandong, Director of the Technology Exchange Department of FECO, Gong Haihua, Director of the Asian-African Division of the International Cooperation Bureau, CAS, Wang Dongsheng, Director of State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry (SKLEAC) of RCEES, and Zhang Liangku, General Manager of Puyu Technology Development Co., Ltd., attended the signing ceremony, signaling that China and Cambodia had taken another solid step toward cooperation on water and environment.

At the ceremony, Ambassador H. E. KHEK M CAIMEALY first expressed her appreciation to RCEES for its assistance and support. About 65% population of Cambodia cannot access clean water and sanitation. Safe drinking water is very important to Cambodia. Therefore, Cambodia is eagerly expected to strengthen cooperation with China in the field of water resources, especially clean water. After, Li Yonghong shared positive results got in recent years from China-Cambodia environmental cooperation, and proposed future plans under the framework of the “Belt and Road Initiative”. He proposed advice to improve Cambodia’s environmental management level, for example, working with RCEES to further promote the operation of the China-Cambodian Environmental Center, installing environmental monitoring equipment, and constructing low-carbon demonstration areas. Then, Yang Min reviewed the cooperation achievements of RCEES in building Cambodia's water environment monitoring capacity, establishing and operating joint laboratory, and personnel exchanges and training. He also expressed that RCEES would fully leverage its strengths to deepen cooperation and to make more contributions to improve Cambodia's environmental monitoring, management capability and skill level. Lastly, Ambassador H. E. KHEK M CAIMEALY, on behalf of Mr. Cham Prasidh, Minister of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation of Cambodia, signed the China-Cambodia Environmental Joint Laboratory Instrument Donation Agreement with Yang Min. 

RCEES established cooperative relationships with the Cambodian Ministry of Industry and Handicraft in 2014 and the Cambodian Ministry of Environment (MoE) in 2016. Later, RCEES promoted the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Cambodian Ministry of Environment in 2018. In 2020, RCEES signed a cooperative agreement with the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center (FECO) of MEE to jointly promote the construction of the China-Cambodia Environmental Cooperation Center. Under the support of National Key R&D Program issued by China Ministry of Science and Technology and Key foreign cooperation projects of the International Cooperation Bureau of CAS, the China-Cambodia Environmental Joint Laboratory, jointly established with Cambodian Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation, is one of the important results of the implementation of the MoU between China and Cambodia. This equipment donation plays a positive role in promoting the construction of the joint laboratory as a basic platform for China-Cambodia scientific research and cooperation, as well as a window for Chinese science and technology to carry out environmental standard system construction, technical training, cooperative research and demonstration project construction in Cambodia to strengthen its environmental monitoring capability and testing capacity building. 

CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment

Office of International Cooperation, RCEES, CAS