Mr. Ou Chin-Der, board chairman of the Foundation for Research & Development of Engineering Sciences & Technologies (Taiwan) and its President Yao Chan-Chun visited IWHR on May 18, 2015, and the two institutions signed an MOU on academic exchange and cooperation. Mr. Ou then presented a report at the in-house Global Vision Forum. IWHR President Kuang Shangfu, Vice president Wang Xiaogang, and Chief Engineer Gao Zhanyi welcomed the guests together with experts from the Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction and Department of Irrigation and Drainage.

Mr. Kuang reviewed the close exchanges and cooperation between the two institutions, particularly in the area of mutual visit, academic exchange, technological cooperation and joint graduate training. He especially mentioned that experts from Taiwan were co-opted for the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, a journal supported by IWHR.

Mr. Ou thanked the institute for the kind arrangements. He said that Taiwan is a small island with a dense population and plagued by frequent natural disasters and ever prominent water issues. Water resources will be the most significant factor affecting human development in the future. Therefore, it is hugely relevant that Taiwan shall cooperate with water institutes on the Chinese mainland, particularly in the fields of disaster relief and reduction and integrated water resources management.

The two institutions signed the MOU, which is aimed at further promoting academic exchange, talent training and research result application in the future.

Mr. Ou at the Global Vision Forum

Mr. Ou then presented a report on Sustainable Development of Taiwan in the Perspective of the Physical Environment, highlighting the challenges Taiwan faced, and countermeasures in resources, the environment and ecology. A lively Q&A session followed.

Global Vision Forum