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06 April 2009
GPPi Research Associate contributes to Workshop on EU-China Relations at University College Cork
GPPi Research Associate Björn Conrad contributed to the academic workshop “EU-China Relations: Developments, Challenges, Prospects” on 30-31 March 2009. The workshop, which took place in Kinsale, Ireland, was organized by the Department of Government and the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies, University College Cork. Participants of the workshop included among others Prof. Song Xinning, United Nations University, Bruges; Prof. Hanns W. Maull, University Trier; Prof. Zhu Liqun, Vice Dean, China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing; and Dr. Sebastian Bersick, German Institute for International and Security Studies, Berlin.
Conrad presented on the topic of EU-China cooperation in the area of climate change mitigation, especially focusing on the structure and process of EU-China working-level collaboration in this field. He pointed out that working level relations have the potential to play an important role in exploring areas of common interest, defining complementary goals and testing different ways of achieving set objectives. However, Conrad also stressed that the success of working-level collaboration will ultimately rely on fundamental agreements which can only be achieved through the broader political level dialogue between both sides. For the working level and the political level to form a mutually reinforcing cycle, the link between the two levels of cooperation will need to be significantly strengthened in the future.
In addition, Conrad used several concrete examples of EU-China working-level cooperation in the field of climate change mitigation to illustrate the importance of the bureaucratic setup and actors involved in these cooperation’s for the success or failure of joint projects. He concluded that a much more in-depth understanding of internal bureaucratic processes on both sides is necessary to create working-level partnerships that are stable and produce tangible results in the long-term.
The presentation was followed by a lively discussion of the workshop participants touching on a broad spectrum of topics related with the area of climate change cooperation including the sensitive issue of technology transfer and the protection of intellectual property rights as well as the implementation gap regarding the practical translation of climate change policies that exists on the EU as well as the Chinese side.
For more information please contact Björn Conrad