On Mar. 1, a televised meeting was held in Beijing to accelerate the building of pollution reduction index system, monitoring system and evaluation system. Important instructions from the central leadership were carried out and the tasks of building the three major systems were deployed at the meeting. SEPA Minister Zhou Shengxian attended and meeting and made remarks. Vice Minister Li Ganjie chaired the meeting and Vice Minister Zhang Lijun also attended the meeting.
On the same day, consultation meeting on environmental issues of the second China-U.S Strategic Economic Dialogue was held in Beijing. Vice Minister Zhou Jian and Claudia McMurray, US Assistant Secretary co-chaired the meeting.
On the same day, SEPA released Instructions on Strengthening Revision of National Standard for Pollutant Discharge.
On Mar. 10, SPEA approved seven national industrial standards for environmental protection including Water quality¡ªDetermination of mercury¡ªCold Atomic Fluorescent Pectrophotometry (tentative).
On Mar. 14, SEPA released 2006 Environmental Quality of Offshore Area in China.
On Mar. 15, SEPA Minister Zhou Shengxian met with Geoff Raby, Australian Ambassador to China in Beijing. They exchanged views on developing closer cooperation, sharing experience in environmental protection and jointly working out effective measures to address environmental issues.
On the same day, SEPA Vice Minister Zhang Lijun met with a Russian media delegation from the mainstream media in Moscow and Far East like Interfax, ITAR-TASS and Amur News. He answered questions that concerned Russian reporters.
On the same day, SEPA released 2006 State of the Environment of China.
On Mar. 16, SEPA lifted the ban on EIA of construction projects of China Huaneng Group and China Guodian Corporation.
On Mar. 20, SEPA printed and issued Circular on Enhancing Management of Eliminating Ozone Depleting Substances.
On Mar. 22, SEPA Minister Zhou Shengxian held a meeting with his counterpart Turnbull, Australian Minister for Environment and Water Resources. They reached consensus on further promoting the development of bilateral relations and enhancing cooperation in the field of water environment. They also signed a letter of intent on environmental protection and management on water resources on behalf of the two governments.
On the same day, SEPA removed the ban on EIA of construction projects in Tangshan City, Hebei Province and projects of Datang International Power Generation Co., Ltd.
On Mar. 27, a special evening-¡°A Call for Green China¡±was staged. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg attended the evening and addressed the audience. SEPA Vice Minister Pan Yue also made remarks at the evening.
On the same day, SEPA printed and issued Measures on Encouraging Science and Technology for Environmental Protection, which will take effect one month after its promulgation.
On Mar. 28, SEPA approved Cleaner production standard ¨CProduction of bleached soda straw pulp, paper industry and Cleaner production standard¨CProduction of kraft chemical wood-pulp, paper industry as industrial standard for environmental protection.
On Mar. 29, National environmental science and technology work meeting was held in Beijing. SEPA Vice Minister Wu Xiaoqing attended and addressed the meeting.
