Dr. Jie Liu, associate director of the Center for Water Research (CWR), recently participated in the "First Chinese-German Young Leaders Conference,” held in the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) in Beijing.

The event was co-sponsored by CPIFA and Global Bridge (Berlin, Germany) to promote communications between young elites from both countries.

The theme of the conference was "In the Spirit of Innovation - Building the Sino-German Strategic Partnership in the 21st Century.”

Forty Chinese and German young leaders in many fields such as politics, economics and national defense participated in the event, in addition to university and media group representatives.  They were part of four working groups: "Sino-German Diplomatic Relations-40 Years of Development,” "IT Innovation: Mutual Challenges or Common Solutions?”, "Join Hands to Tackle Global Challenges” and "Sustainable Growth.”

Liu served as Chinese Chairman of the working group "Sustainable Growth.” As the only invited young participant in the field of water resources, she introduced CWR’s plans to deal with China’s current water crisis.

CWR has an on-going Chinese-German joint research project funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and DFG German Research Foundation. CWR is working with Heidelberg University to study the groundwater recharge in the North China Plain through environmental tracers and numerical modeling.

"I hope through this event, we can communicate and exchange our ideas freely, and build up a foundation for more and closer collaborations into the future,” said Liu about the event.
 

About the conference sponsors

The Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) was founded in December 1949 based on an initiative by Premier Zhou Enlai.  It was the first of its kind devoted to people-to-people diplomacy.

The Global Bridge was founded in Germany in 1952 as a Non-Government Organization. Members are well known figures from politics, economics and academics.

The Chinese-German Young Leaders Conference is an initiative to increase the understanding and relationship between future Chinese and German decision makers, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of a Sino-German friendship.