On June 22-24,2018, the 20th TEMM Youth Forum was held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Master student Qi Ruona from RIEL was invited to attend this forum as one of the five Chinese youth representatives. The youth representatives from China, Japan, and Korea exchanged ideas on the theme “Contributing to our future” and delivered the results of the forum to Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Li Ganjie, Japanese Minister of the Environment Nakagawa Masaharu, and ROK Minister of Environment Kim Eunkyung on the 20th Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among China, Japan and Korea.
The Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting (TEMM) is a ministerial conference on environment initiated by China, Japan and Korea in 1999. As the only minister-level conference in the region, it has served as the highest-level coordination mechanism on environmental cooperation among the three nations. Since 1999, the TEMM has been held annually to come up with cooperative measures to tackle environmental issues of the Northeast Asia region. Since 2011, the Youth Forum has been held during the TEMM to enhance the mutual understanding among young people of China, Japan and Korea, and to promote the exchange of information and establish cooperation in the field of environmental protection. Representatives of the Youth Forum were invited to participate the TEMM and reported the results of the Forum to the Ministers of Environment of the three countries. This part has become one of the highlights of the TEMM and has received favorable comments from ministers.
During the conference, Qi Ruona, as one of youth representative of China, made a speech on the topic of “Youth Environmental Practitioners” at the Youth Forum. Representatives of Youth Forum listened to the lectures of experts, conducted group discussions on the theme of the forum, provided opinions and summarized the results. Besides, Qi Ruona also distributed brochures and souvenirs of RIEL to youth representatives from different countries. Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Li Ganjie held cordial talks with five Chinese youth representatives, asking questions about their work and life and affirming their contribution to environmental protection.
In recent years, RIEL has continued to strengthen the “practical and international” training model, attaches great importance to and actively support Master students to participate in various international activities. Qi Ruona’s participation in the TEMM Youth Forum is one of the new highlights of our talent cultivation.
