SPEECH AT THE OPENING CEREMONY

Liu Shuying

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, allow me to express my gratitude to the organizer of the meeting for inviting me to the Fifth Meeting of CCICED and giving me the honor to make a speech here. Meanwhile, on behalf of the People's Government of Jilin Province, I would like to express my warm congratulations on the convening of the meeting.

Jilin Province is located in the middle of Northeast China, sharing a border with Russia in the east and facing Korea across a river in the southeast, with a total area of 187,400 square kilometers and a population of 25,920,000. The province can be divided into three natural ecological zones according to natural conditions: the east, the middle, and the west. The mountain area in the east is comparatively rich in resources such as forest, mineral, and water. The Changbai mountain range is the natural ecological screen of Northeast China and the source of Songhua River, Yalu River, and Tumen River. The Songliao plain, which is situated in the middle of the province, is fertile land, suitable for the development of agriculture; the grasslands in the west are rich in grass and water, and therefore favorable for raisin cattle and sheep. Jilin Province is one of China's bases for heavy industry and an important bade for the pillar industry in Jilin Province. The grain output remains steady at about 20 million tons annually. During the "Eighth Five Year Plan", the annual average increase in GDP is 11.1%.

Since Jilin Province is an in-land province and a comparatively less developed area, it is our foremost task to improve the people's living standard and develop the economy. With the rapid economic development and the increase in population, the pressure on the environment and resources is getting worse, Therefore, to insist on a confinable development policy has become our inevitable choice. During the past years, we have been making full use of the advantages of science and technology and of the role universities, colleges, and institutes can play. As a result, we have successfully solved the problem of mercury pollution in Songhua River.

Since the fourth China Environmental Protection Meeting in July, 1996, Jilin Province has decided to further reinforce environmental protection work and to further develop the environmental protection industry by relying on science and technology and by increasing investment and enforcing laws strictly, We have made plans to control the total quantity of exhausted dirt with a project named ” Blue Sky, Clean Water and Green Land”. This project focuses on the improvement of Songhua River and Dongliao River drainage areas by setting up sewage treatment factories and garbage treatment yards. However, we are still faced with a lot of problems in funds and technique.

It is our hope that this meeting will provide us with the opportunity for better understanding among the participants .We sincerely welcome all of you to come to Jilin and to cooperate with us in the field of environmental protection.

Finally, I wish the complete success of the 5th meeting of CCICED.