Hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and co-organized by the National Research Institute for Rural Electrification of the Ministry of Water Resources, Hangzhou Regional Center (Asia-Pacific) for Small Hydro Power, and the International Center on Small Hydro Power, the Seminar on Small Hydropower and Sustainable Development of Rural Communities for Developing Countries was successfully held online from May 31 to June 13, 2023.Mr. Xu Jincai, Director of the International Center on Small Hydro Power, Ms. Shu Jing, Deputy Director of the National Research Institute for Rural Electrification, Ministry of Water Resources, and Ms. Shi Jin, Division Chief of Foreign Affairs and Training, attended the opening and closing ceremonies and delivered speeches, and the Division of South-South Cooperation of the International Center on Small Hydro Power hosted the ceremonies.
At the opening ceremony, Director Xu Jincai, on behalf of the co-organizer, welcomed 136 participants who serve the water conservancy and energy-related sectors from 36 developing countries. After introducing the business of the International Center on Small Hydro Power to the participants, he pointed out that this seminar aims to promote the progress of small hydropower experience and technology in developing countries and jointly promote the sustainable development of rural communities in developing countries. The Chinese experience in the field of small hydropower and sustainable development is of great value to developing countries. By looking into the future direction of sustainable development, we shall master renewable energy generation technologies such as hydropower, photovoltaic and wind power and focusing on multi-energy complementary power generation, improve the level of small hydropower construction and management, further play the role of small hydropower in energy saving and emission reduction and promote the sustainable development of rural communities. He hoped that under the guidance of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative and global development initiatives, the training activities would strengthen the cooperation between Chinese institutions and developing countries.
Deputy Director Shu Jing introduced the National Research Institute for Rural Electrification, Ministry of Water Resources and said that building sustainable rural communities requires the strengthened development of multi-energy industries such as hydropower-wind-photovoltaic, thus achieving a multi-energy complementary integrated energy structure. It is hopefully that this seminar would promote the exchange of small hydropower and sustainable development practices and technologies between China and foreign countries, and all participating officials would achieve satisfactory results from this seminar.
Mr. Oluwagbemiga Olokede, a senior official of the Nigerian Energy Commission, was invited to deliver a speech on behalf of the participants, expressing his sincere gratitude to the Ministry of Commerce of China for hosting the seminar, and to the National Research Institute for Rural Electrification, Ministry of Water Resources and the International Center on Small Hydro Power for hosting the seminar. He expressed that this seminar will play a positive role in the future cooperation on small hydropower and sustainable development of rural communities in developing countries.
The 14-days seminar carried out lectures on sustainable development of rural communities, small hydropower planning and construction, water cooperation and investment and financing policy related fields, and arranged cloud visits, cloud culture experience and seminars and exchange activities. The rich course content, thorough arrangement and meticulous service have been well received by the trainees. The participants maintained a high attendance rate from the beginning to the end of the training activities, and held lively discussions through the chat function of ZOOM platform and the online communication working group formed, and everyone gave high praise to the training activities!
