The Swiss delegation on mountain torrents disaster prevention led by Mr. Andreas Goetz, senior consultant of Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) of Switzerland, visited IWHR on October 23, 2017 for technical exchanges. Vice President Liu Zhiping met the delegation of nine with the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Water Resources of China and the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters Office as well as the relevant departments of IWHR.

Prof. Liu warmly welcomed the delegation and thanked them for making this visit possible in a very short notice and tight schedule. He briefed the delegation upon the main work and achievement of IWHR in mountain torrents disaster prevention over the past few years and the cooperation and exchanges with the Swiss counterparts. IWHR hopes to further communicate with the Swiss experts on the advanced philosophy and technologies of mountain torrents prevention and to widen and deepen the bilateral cooperation in the relevant fields.

Mr. Goetz, who has been recently appointed as the honorary professor of IWHR, highly appreciated the great achievement of China-Swiss water cooperation since the signing of MOU in 2009 and complimented the active and effective work of China in mountain torrents disaster prevention. Mr. Goetz stressed that the prevention of mountain torrents should rely on the wide participation of all stakeholders, not just the scientific research, so as to promote the practical implementation of relevant policies and measures. The Swiss experts hope to fully understand the research findings and progress of the Chinese partners in order to prevent the redundant work and to maximize the joint research findings in a view to promote and apply the concept of integrated risk management.

Experts from both sides communicated on their respective work in the fundamental research, monitoring and assessment, project implementation and application as well as the future collaborations in the field of mountain torrents disaster prevention.