Deputy Secretary Burns Delivers Remarks with Chinese State Councilor Yang

Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones: Good morning everyone. (We are live) I am Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones, the Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment, and Science, and it's my pleasure to be the moderator, or the MC, of today's very important event and the signing of some new EcoPartnerships between the U.S. and China. We have some opening remarks to begin with, so let me get right to those and introduce to you our U.S. Ambassador to China, Ambassador Locke. (Applause). Ambassador to China Gary Locke: Well good morning everyone, and welcome to the 4th EcoPartnership signing ceremony. The eco partnerships represent a clear demonstration that American companies, academia, and local organizations stand ready to cooperate with Chinese partners in the best interest of both of our countries. I want to thank Assistant Secretary Kerri-Ann Jones for her outstanding leadership of this great program. As a sign of the importance that our two governments' place on this ceremony and the EcoPartnerships program, I want to acknowledge Deputy Secretary Burns. It is a real honor to share the stage with you today. I also want to acknowledge State Councilor Yang Jiechi. Your presence here today demonstrates that China and the United States share a natural interest in supporting the world's best minds as they come up with solutions to our common problems. The EcoPartnerships, being recognized today, demonstrate the commitment to the environment by our respective institutions - although their locations are oceans apart - and that they can have global benefits. The EcoPartnerships being forged today also express one of the best elements of the U.S.-Chinese public-private cooperation. The recognition that businesses, non-government organizations, and educational institutions, as well as our two governments, can apply their power of innovation and creativity to benefit society. The United States welcomes this collaboration with China, especially when such collaboration has the potential to benefit the environment and to protect our precious natural resources. Now I'd like to welcome and introduce someone all of you know well, a respected diplomat of many, many years, but a person who also shares Secretary Kerry's passion and commitment to environmental, clean energy, and climate change issues. Deputy Secretary Burns. (Applause) DEPUTY SECRETARY of state William BURNS: Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador, and good morning, everybody. I want to thank State Councilor Yang and all of our Chinese guests who have traveled so far to be here today. And let me also thank our American EcoPartners who have come from across the country to sign these landmark agreements. Our nations are not only the two largest economies in the world, but they are also the two largest contributors to climate change. As we work to further strengthen our economic ties, we must also work to foster the innovation that will produce a sustainable way of life for our people and for our planet. For the past five years, the EcoPartnerships program has been helping to do just that, and it has been a great example of U.S.-China cooperation. These laboratories of innovation bring together American and Chinese partners from the public and private sectors to help promote economic growth, energy security, and environmental sustainability. Together, we aren't just heeding the call, but leading the charge to find solutions to some of our most pressing environmental challenges. In Columbus, Ohio and the Chinese city of Hefei, we are building electric cars with new technology. In New Orleans and Shanghai, wetlands are being conserved, thanks to shared research. And in Charlotte and Langfang, our utility sectors are learning to create electricity in smarter, cleaner ways. These solutions matter to the United States, they matter to China, and they matter to our planet. This year we received the most applications in the history of the program. The six new EcoPartnerships we're committing to today are the best of the best. Some of you will be working on energy efficiency while others will be creating cutting-edge technologies to use landfill gas, conserve groundwater resources, and create plant-based plastic bottles. Whatever your project, I wish you the very best in your work together. All of you are working to solve some of our biggest challenges and are helping the United States and China build a sustainable future together. So thank you all very much. Congratulations and good luck. (Applause.) And now it's my great pleasure and honor to introduce State Councilor Yang. (Applause.) STATE COUNCILOR YANG: (Via interpreter) The Honorable Deputy Secretary Bill Burns, representatives of China-U.S. EcoPartnerships, ladies and gentlemen, friends, good morning. I'm very pleased to join you during the fifth round of the China-U.S. S&ED to witness this important moment of admitting new members to the China-U.S. EcoPartnerships. China and the United States are making earnest efforts to implement the important agreement reached between our presidents at the Annenberg estate to actively build a new model of major country relationship. Making progress towards this goal is the main task of the current round of S&ED. China and the United States share many challenges, extensive interests, and a broad foundation of cooperation in the fields of climate change, energy, and the environment. The Chinese Government is committed to addressing climate change and making every effort to promote ecological progress. President Obama recently delivered a major speech on climate change and put forward important domestic and international agenda. To step up policy coordination and practical cooperation between our two countries in these fields, not only serves our own interest but also helps to advance global sustainable development. (7:15) During this round of S&ED, two special sessions were held on climate change and energy security where we reached broad agreement and further demonstrated our shared resolve to strengthen cooperation in the fields of climate change, energy, and the environment. As an innovative mechanism under the China-U.S. 10-year framework on energy and environment cooperation, EcoPartnerships offer a good platform for local governments, businesses, and research institutions in our two countries to combine strengths and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation. Through joint research demonstration projects, technology exchanges and capacity building, 18 pairs of EcoPartners from our two countries have made exploratory and forward-looking efforts in energy-saving and efficiency, clean energy, protection of sea environment, and development of circular economy. Today, another six pairs of Chinese and American institutions will join the partnerships. Please accept my warm welcome and hearty congratulations. I'm hopeful and confident that the twenty-four pairs of EcoPartners will draw on their respective needs and comparative advantages, fully tap into their cooperation potential, and constantly innovate on their model of cooperation to maximize the outcomes of the partnerships and contribute to the sustainable development of our two countries and endeavor to build a new model of major country relationship. I wish you every success in cooperation. Thank you. (YANG, In English) (inaudible)... great success to this type of cooperation. I think the family is getting bigger and bigger. We need more and more EcoPartners. So I'm very happy to be here, and I would to like to thank all of you for your great contribution to this great cause. I thank Ambassador Gary Locke and our Ambassador, Mr. Cui. They have done a great job. And certainly Mr. Xie Zhenhua on our side, Mr. Stern on the American side, and the science and technology adviser and others, they have all done their great job. So now let us just roll up our sleeves and do our job and make the Earth greener, make this a more beautiful planet for all of us and for generations to come. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Secretary Jones: I'm a bit shorter. (Laughter) I wanted to thank Councilor Yang and Deputy Secretary Burns for their comments and also thank Secretary Kerry and others for their very strong support of this program. I'm pleased to say that the Bureau that I lead has shaped and guided and funded these partnerships for the past four years, and there has been a lot of excellent programs that have gone forward, and there are going to be even more that are going to be signed today. So we look forward to all of the new advances and progress that can be made. But I just want to state that this is really just setting the stage right now. And you out there, you are really the actors that are going to make all the difference. So without any further ado I think we should try to get to the main event. I would like to invite Vice Minister Xie Zhenhua to come up to the stage as well as Special Envoy Todd Stern, to witness the signings. And what I will do is announce each one of the partnerships and ask each of the members of the partnership to come up one at a time and sign their agreements. Thank you. So would Mona Yew of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Zheng Shuanhu of the Beijing Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Center please approach the table, so you can sign your agreement? We wish you much luck with the partnership you are undertaking to improve the demand-side management of electricity. (Pause, then applause). Next I would like to invite George Hamilton from the Institute for Sustainable Communities, and Li Junfeng from the National Climate Change Strategy Research and Cooperation Center to approach the table. We are looking forward to seeing the results of your partnership which will establish networks of low carbon champions who will translate national policies into local action. (Applause). Would Matt Echols from the Coca-Cola Company and Jiang Jinxu from Yangtze River Delta Institute of Circular Economy and Technology please approach the table. We are looking forward to seeing more plant bottles sprout up throughout China very soon. (Applause). Next I would like to invite Nada Anid from the New York Institute of Technology and Zheng Chunmiao from Peking University to approach the table. We are looking forward your partnership, which has the potential to help millions of people gain access to clean drinking water more safely and more reliably. (Applause) (Laughter) Would Raymond Pilcher from Raven Ridge Resources Incorporated and Zheng Mingjie from Guizhou International Cooperation Center for Environmental Protection please approach the table. We are looking forward to your partnership, which will help address the problem of coal mine methane, which is a dangerous short lived climate pollutant that is a significant contributor to climate change. (Applause) And finally, I would like to invite Devinder Mahajan from the State University at Stony Brook and Chai Xiaoli from Tongji University to please approach the table. We are looking forward to seeing what advances you can make I the field of large-scale methane capture and use. (Applause) With that, we have just had six new partnerships join the family, as the Councilor mentioned, and we look forward to all of the great advances that you will be able to make. We hope that this is an indication of more to come in this area of partnership between the private sector, across both of our countries, and it's really my pleasure to congratulate you and wish you best of luck on your new endeavors. Xièxiè. Thank you very much. Would you join us for some tea and coffee?