Italy expands environmental co-op with China

Corrado Clini, the Italian minister for the Environment, Land and Sea delivers a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. [Photo / Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Italy Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea signed a MOU with China's Ministry of Environmental Protection Friday to further promote bilateral cooperation in environmental protection.

The Italian ministry also signed an agreement with the Beijing municipality to enhance the capital city's environment, including air quality, soil, and water treatment, according to the Sino-Italian Cooperation Program for Environmental Protection.

An EU-China low carbon platform would be the best practice for the Durban road map, Corrado Clini, the Italian environmental minister, said in a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Establishment of the Europe-China Clean Energy Centre (EC2), is the first step towards the EU-China low carbon platform. In addition, EC2 should play a relevant role in the framework of the post Durban road map, Clini said.

Clini is also one of the initiators of the Sino-Italian Collaboration Program for Environmental Protection.

More than 200 projects have been implemented within the Program, including Beijing's Intelligent Transport System.

The total value of developed or on-going projects is 350 million euros ($463.34 million), according to a brochure prepared by the program.