In a global economy, the challenges faced by our society in the different part of the world are similar or interconnected. This is also true for the risk issues which require most of the time global solutions.
EU-VRi leadership is convinced that Europe has to develop a close partnership with China on risk analysis and risk management in particular when the risks under consideration are related to sustainable production, clean transport, impact of climate change, impact of the world demography, sustainable energy use, safety and security of critical infrastructures.
Partnership and cooperation is seen as a two ways process. China quick development asks for effective solutions for risk management, which should benefit from the European experience. The leaders in China know what the best practices are and how to implement them, but they might wish external support from European resources to enhance the quick transfer and to adapt new solutions to the local market and the local culture. Europe sees in China the opportunity to share investment in research, development and innovation for more effective risk management solutions. Joint research programmes should be elaborated, common projects developed look for synergies and mutual fertilization both on methodological and technological aspects to build approach and tools that will be global.
In concrete, the partnership is intended to cover the 3 aspects:
- Projects, funded by the European Commission, international organizations, or by national countries (China and states which have an interest in such a cooperation)
- Education (academic and professional education)
- Dissemination and implementation of best practices, including consulting activities
With the objective to develop a strong partnership with Chinese risk analysis experts, EU-VRi managers decided to play an active role in the 2 most important events that took place in China in 2009:
- The 2nd International Conference on Risk Analysis and Crisis Response (RACR-2009)
- The 1st China-Europe Risk Forum