China-ASEAN Workshop on Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment was held in Beijing on Oct. 16, 2007. Representatives from ten ASEAN countries, ASEAN secretariat, SIDA and ADB attended the workshop. Director General of Department of International Cooperation, Xu Qinghua and Director General of Department of Environmental Impact Assessment Zhu Xingxiang attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

Since China started environmental impact assessment over 20 years ago, China has drawn upon some useful experience in the world through international cooperation and led East Asia in this area. ASEAN countries have started to learn from China in studying and establishing EIA systems recently. At this workshop Chinese experts will share their experience with ASEAN representatives and jointly discuss the ways to deepen cooperation by learning advanced technologies and experience of European countries.

This workshop was funded by SIDA and China's special fund for Asia. This is the first China-ASEAN environmental cooperation project funded by the third party, which provides useful guidance for exploring mode for regional environmental cooperation.