On 28th September 2020, a training for Chinese infrastructure firms was co-organized in Beijing by the Chinese International Contractors’ Association (CHINCA) and GIZ. The training targeted contractors which are also implementing foreign aid projects and highlighted aspects of environmental and social sustainability for infrastructure projects.
In the opening ceremony, Ms. ZHANG Xiang, Secretary-General of CHINCA, elaborated on the importance for Chinese contractors to better understand international standards and to further improve their sustainability performance. Mr. Hagen Ettner, German Director of the Sino-German Center for Sustainable Development (CSD), highlighted the contributions of sustainable infrastructure to the Agenda 2030, the role of sustainability as a government commitment in development cooperation but also the business case of sustainable infrastructure. Looking back on the past decade of successful cooperation between GIZ and CHINCA, the training was used to introduce opportunities for GIZ and CHINCA to deepen their cooperation with Chinese contractors to contribute to sustainable infrastructure globally.
The training featured speakers from Peking University, Huayu Consulting, Siemens and Meihua Group, who shared their expertise and experience on international standards, environmental risk management, best practices and lessons learned. Special emphasis was put on how compliance with international environmental standards interlinks with the overall sustainability and viability of project concepts and local acceptance. A peer-learning session for participants was organized to reflect on their take-aways.
The training attracted 40 participants from 21 companies, including China Railway Construction Corporation, Beijing Uni-Construction Group, Power China International Group, China Non-ferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Corporation, China Geo-Engineering Corporation, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, China Communications Construction Company Limited, China Machinery Industry Construction Group Inc., China Harbor, China Three Gorges Corporation, China Railway International Group, and China CAMC Engineering Corporation.
CHINCA is the strategic partner of GIZ in the field of sustainable infrastructure, and one of the cooperation partners of the CSD. The training was one of the cooperation activities agreed between CSD and CHINCA in their longstanding cooperation to support sustainable infrastructure investments.
