U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
February 15, 2012

MEDIA NOTE

Expansion of U.S.-China EcoPartnerships Program

On the occasion of the visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the United States and China have expanded the U.S.-China EcoPartnerships program with the admission of two more EcoPartnerships this week, bringing the total number of EcoPartnerships to 15. The EcoPartnerships program is aimed at developing new models of mutually beneficial voluntary arrangements between a range of state, local, and private sector organizations, to promote energy security, economic growth, and environmental sustainability in both countries. The United States and China signed the Framework for EcoPartnerships Under the U.S.-China Ten Year Framework for Cooperation on Energy and Environment (“EcoPartnerships Framework”) in Beijing in December 2008. The two new partnerships are:

• Cities of Columbus, Ohio, and Hefei, Anhui province: These sister cities will form an EcoPartnerhip together with flagship universities in those cities. This EcoPartnership plans to use the resources from Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research and Hefei University of Technology to develop and apply electric vehicle technologies and address other energy and environmental issues facing both cities, such as lake and wetland conservation, waste and sewage treatment, energy conservation in buildings, and urban planning. The two cities plan to work with private sector funding sources, local manufacturing, and academic centers in order to strengthen ties, mitigate negative impacts on the environment, and create green jobs.

• The Nature Conservancy’s Great River Partnership and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture’s Yangtze River Fishery Administration: This EcoPartnership will work to advance river basin management and conservation of large river systems and will try to develop new capacity for sustainable agriculture in both countries. This EcoPartnership will use each partner’s unique strengths to develop new systems to monitor and manage large river systems such as the Mississippi and Yangtze Rivers.

For more information on EcoPartnerships, visit: http://www.ecopartnerships.gov.

For information on how to become an EcoPartner, visit: http://www.ecopartnerships.gov/partner.