Dear Colleagues, Dear Friends,
Two years ago Finland inherited the CEWP European Secretariat from Denmark. For us it was a big challenge, a bit frightening but also appealing and interesting. It was almost like a leap in the dark, although we had some good practice by organizing the high-level meeting in Turku in 2017.
Much has happened during these two years, we have now had more funding from the EU, more EU Member States are actively participating in the CEWP activities, new connections have been established with other Chinese ministries, provinces, cities, agencies and research institutes.
Increasing activities have a strong political support. In the Joint Statement of the 20th EU-China Summit in 2018 the leaders of both parties acknowledged the role of China Europe Water Platform (CEWP) in supporting the implementation of the water-related Sustainable Development Goals.
Our term for the European Secretariat comes now to its end and Portugal will take over the Secretariat in Europe to lead the China Europe water Platform from the beginning of 2020. We are convinced that the Secretariat will be in good hands for the coming years and the CEWP activities will be developed and enlarged. Pedro Liberato and Diana Carlos will be the persons in charge; you are welcome to contact them from the beginning of 2020. The email addresses secretariat@cewp.eu and communication@cewp.eu continue to work. We wish successful years for Pedro and Diana and other Portuguese colleagues.
It has been a great pleasure working with you, we have many happy memories from many meetings, workshops, field trips etc. Of course we do not step out from the CEWP, Finland and Finnish organisations will continue participating in many coming CEWP activities.
Finally, we wish you a Merry Christmas and Successful New Year.
Seppo, Olli-Matti, Johanna and Olli
Photo: François Xavier Imbert