On November 5, 2018, Vice Minister Bounkham Vorachit of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Laos led a delegation to Visit IWHR on the issue of deepening knowledge sharing and technology cooperation. 

Dr. Kuang Shangfu, President of IWHR, received the delegation, together with Mr. Yu Xingjun, Director-General from the Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Zhong Yong, Director of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Center, Dr. Peng Jing, Vice President of IWHR, as well as representatives from relevant departments at IWHR.

Dr. Kuang extended his warm welcome to the Lao delegation. He applauded the lasting and close friendship between China and Laos, and introduced IWHR’s involvement in Lao water sector in terms of irrigation development, water resources management, automatic monitoring and control of hydropower stations, impoundment safety assessment, rubber dam and hydraulic lift dam construction, and talent cultivation. Knowing that Laos was recently hit by an extreme rainfall event and a dam break, Dr. Kuang said that IWHR stood ready to respond to the needs of Laos for disaster relief and emergency management.

Vice Minister Bounkham Vorachit thanked IWHR for its hospitality. She said that she was glad to see many fields for potential collaboration between the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and IWHR. She particularly mentioned that as the Ministry was tasked by the national government to conduct disaster mitigation and reconstruction, the Ministry would like to bring China’s wisdom in this regard.

The delegation visited the virtual reality simulation laboratory of Beijing IWHR Technology Co., Ltd. after the meeting.