The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have agreed that their experts will work together on the development of advanced technologies for secure, clean and affordable energy supplies.

The agreement follows two days of discussions between experts from MOST and the IEA. The discussions were led by Mr. Shi Dinghuan, a member of the State Council and Ambassador William Ramsay, Deputy Executive Director of the IEA. Ambassador Ramsay said “there are many joint issues to tackle and much common ground for future activities. I am delighted that we have reached this agreement.”

This initiative is in response to the Plan of Action established when the G8 met in Gleneagles in 2005 with the President Hu Jintao of China and leaders of other major newly industrializing countries.

During the discussions, Mr. Zhang Zhihong, Deputy Director-General of the Department of High and New Technology Development and Industrialization of MOST, introduced
measures to promote energy conservation and emissions reduction, and expressed sincere wishes to strengthen cooperation with the IEA in energy conversation and emissions
reduction at the policy and technical level.

The areas for international collaboration include clean and efficient coal combustion, coal conversion, CO2 capture and storage, renewable energies such as wind, solar, geothermal
and bioenergy, heat pumps, hydrogen, and scenario analysis.
The collaboration will involve the IEA’s network for energy technology (NEET) collaboration which includes more than 5000 experts worldwide on all major energy technologies.

China is already a full member of some of the technology agreements in this network and its participation is expected to increase. High level experts from 11 “Implementing Agreements” and Working Parties of the IEA network took part in the talks together with experts from MOST, the China Coal Research Institute, and other Chinese energy technology institutions.

This is the second in a series of outreach events of the IEA outreach initiative NEET (Networks for Expertise in Energy Technology) following the successful event held in South Africa in February this year. Further such events are planned for Brazil, India, Mexico and Russia.